Air pollution is a deadlier weather hazard in America than hurricanes, according to Jeff Masters, Director of Meteorology at The Weather Underground.
Though climate change discussion often focuses on preventing future pollution, during certain weather events, existing pollution in the air can get trapped. On Monday, Aug. 17, a cloud of pollution developed over New England due to a large dome of high pressure, representing the first major pollution episode of the summer, Masters said in an Aug. 18 blog post. The high pressure results in higher temperatures and stagnant air, creating a far more hazardous weather even than the anticipated Hurricane Bill, he said.
The haze of pollution in the Northeast began on Sunday, Masters said, where stagnant wind, sun and high temperatures set the stage for a buildup of pollutants, including ground-level ozone gas. High humidity in the Northeast was conducive to particle pollution forming, which is the most deadly form of air pollution in the U.S., he said. The resulting poor air quality was the impetus for air quality advisories on Monday in more than 30 cities, he said.
Masters suggests avoiding excessive exercise outside on day when air quality is poor and changing your mode of transportation to help reduce the amount of pollution in the air. He recommends checking the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s AIRNow website for a list of advisory days.
Pollution-Related Deaths
As for health effects, he warns that a number of Americans die prematurely every year due to air pollution, particularly children who suffer pollution-induced asthma attacks.
Citing figures from studies done in 1997 and 2005 by EPA, he estimates that “the mortality due to air pollution in the general population is in the thousands or tens of thousands each year.” On a global level, approximately 800,000 people each year die prematurely because of outdoor air pollution, he said, citing a 2005 study published in the Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health.
Masters has researched acid rain in the Northeast U.S. and air pollution in the Detroit area, taught weather forecasting at SUNY Brockport, and was a flight meteorologist for NOAA's Aircraft Operations Center. He co-founded Weather Underground in 1995 while working on his Ph.D. At Weather Underground, he formats the raw NWS data used on the website and created most of the imagery on the tropical page.
