The USU Bingham Research Center issued a local winter ozone alert on Monday, recommending that actions be taken to reduce ozone-forming emissions. The announcement states that there is a reasonable likelihood that ozone in the Uintah Basin will exceed the EPA standard within the next several days and that conditions associated with ozone exceedances will remain until at least this weekend. Director of the Bingham Research Center Dr. Seth Lyman explains that ozone built up over the weekend and that a storm front passed
through on Sunday night
but was not strong enough to break up the inversion. Even if the inversion does briefly break up, the forecast doesn’t leave hope it will stay that way. “The inversion was weak over this past weekend because we were between high pressure to the west and lower pressure to the east,” explains Dr. Lyman, “but now the high pressure system is predicted to stagnate right on top of us for the whole week. This means the inversion will be stronger. Also, every week we move away from the winter solstice gives us more sunlight, allowing ozone more time each day to build up and more energy so it can form at an increased rate.” This is especially bad news for those concerned about exceeding the EPA standard because Dr. Lyman predicts that “this week we are very likely to blow past it.” While the inversion has been mostly affecting lower elevations, it is expected that as it builds up, the area of impaired air quality will expand, even into Vernal, where it is usually less of an issue. All are encouraged to reduce their emissions where possible, for example, by not idling vehicles. For those in the oil and gas industry, a list of possible actions that will reduce ozone-forming emissions is provided at
http://binghamresearch.usu.edu/OzoneAlert
.
