Not just heat: Unhealthy air quality warning issued for Sacramento area on Thursday

Sacramento-area air quality officials have issued a Spare the Air alert for Thursday due to ozone pollution, as a major heat wave arrives this week in Northern California and will last through at least Labor Day weekend.

The Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management District and partnering districts say an air quality index reading of 133 AQI is in Thursday’s forecast for Sacramento, El Dorado, Placer, Solano and Yolo counties.

Any AQI reading between 100 and 150 is considered unhealthy for sensitive groups, which includes children as well as people with asthma or similar conditions.

During Spare the Air days, residents are asked to cut back on driving, to carpool when possible and to spend time outdoors earlier in the day when pollution levels are lower – which is already a smart idea, given the extreme heat.

Thursday will mark the region’s third Spare the Air day this year, following alerts Aug. 16 and Aug. 19, compared to seven at this point in 2021. The program runs only from May through October, though air quality can be poor outside of those months, especially during large wildfires.

Air quality will worsen later this week due in large part to the heat, with high temperatures forecast to range from 105 degrees Thursday to as hot as 113 degrees by Monday in the capital region.

A high-pressure ridge producing sunny conditions and highs above 100 degrees “will enhance ground-level ozone formation,” which will not be easily dispersed due to calm winds, according to the alert message posted to sparetheair.com.

Ozone pollution differs from particulate matter pollution, which is more closely linked to wildfire smoke.

The air quality district says onshore winds strengthening Friday afternoon and evening may help with dispersion but could also bring offshore smoke from fires in California and possibly Oregon into the Sacramento region, once again deteriorating air quality.

This story was originally published August 31, 2022 at 12:14 PM.

Michael McGough

The Sacramento Bee

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Michael McGough is a sports and local editor for The Sacramento Bee. He previously covered breaking news and COVID-19 for The Bee, which he joined in 2016. He is a Sacramento native and graduate of Sacramento State.