Air Quality

Stay home, close the doors, draw the shades, forget the lawn, raise the thermostat, keep the kids inside, do not paint the deck, do not paint your fingernails, do not touch the barbecue fluid and, Baltimore, do not - repeat, DO NOT - apply hair- spray. It was an Ozone Action Day. Yesterday was not only Ozone Action Day but also the first OAD of the Ozone Season, which is now an annual event in Maryland life, marking the languid stretch of days ranging from May 1 to Sept. 30, corresponding with highway vacations and outdoor barbecues and the mindless pleasure of applying the power of crude rotary engines to the art of gardening.

Spring stirs pollen, and also dust - high-flying dust that's blown thousands of miles to reach North America in greater amounts than scientists have known before, with potential impact on the climate and air quality. Mineral dust rises from dry expanses in Asia, Africa and the Middle East, rides upper atmospheric winds for days across the Pacific Ocean to the West Coast of the United States and beyond. More than two miles up, it can reach Maryland, where scientists at College Park, Greenbelt and Catonsville have been tracking its global travels with satellite-based instruments in a way they say is more accurate and covers a longer period of time than previous studies.

The air we breathe may not the cleanest in the country, but it's getting better all the time. A recent report from the American Lung Association found the Baltimore-Washington corridor has shown improvement in air quality in recent years. There are many reasons for this, and some have little to do with public policy decisions. The economic recession has reduced driving, industrial activity and energy consumption generally, a fact that has improved air quality in most places over the past two years.

On Thursday, the U.S. Senate will hold a confirmation hearing on Gina McCarthy, President Barack Obama's nominee to lead the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Over her decades of public service, Ms. McCarthy has demonstrated a strong commitment to protecting public health with pragmatic solutions to our pollution challenges. In short, she has proved that she is a true public health champion. While Ms. McCarthy's most high-profile accomplishments came from her work strengthening and modernizing historic clean air standards to ensure that Americans will be able to breathe easier over the long term, she has dedicated her entire career to keeping kids safe from chemicals, ensuring we have clean and safe drinking water, and tackling the environmental health issues that really matter.

Air quality will be poor in Baltimore on Sunday, according to state officials. Higher than normal air pollution concentrations could threaten sensitive groups like children, the elderly and people with asthma, heart disease or lung disease. People who may fall into these categories should avoid strenous activity or exercise outdoors. Late Saturday, the Maryland Department of the Environment issued Sunday's code orange air quality alert for the Baltimore metro region. More information about the alert can be found on the Department of the Enviornment's website or by calling the Maryland Air Quality Hotline at 410-537-3247.

Despite it being one of the hottest summers on record in Baltimore, "code red" air pollution days are at their lowest levels since 2009.  There has been only one "code red" day, considered unhealthy for everyone -- June 29, the day intense heat fueled the deadly derecho storm. That is according to AirNow, an air-quality website maintained by a handful of federal government agencies. There have been 14 days with "code orange" conditions in at least part of the Baltimore area so far this summer.

A consulting firm hired by Anne Arundel County schools to test air quality at Edgewater Elementary School will meet with the school community on Tuesday. Ed Light, president of Ashton-based Building Dynamics LLC, said Friday that the company is conducting comprehensive evaluations and reviewing parents' and staff concerns. He said Building Dynamics will meet with the Edgewater community at 7 p.m. Tuesday and that a report would be issued when the firm's study is complete. Two weeks ago, a group of Edgewater parents, teachers, staff and students gathered at a school board public hearing and implored Anne Arundel school officials to prioritize improvements to the school's aging structure, which they say is fraught with health concerns.

On an evening when the weather was unseasonably warm, the Edgewater Elementary School cafeteria was uncomfortably stuffy. Doors were opened to allow cooler air inside, providing some relief for dozens of parents, students and staff who assembled last week to hear a preliminary report on air quality at the school. Moments later, it was the report's findings that seemed to make many people uncomfortable. Parents said despite the fact that an independent consulting firm plans to take steps to control the mold growth it discovered in the school, they are still concerned about health issues for students.

If you see a large aircraft flying particularly low over the Interstate 95 corridor Sunday, don't panic. It will only be NASA, taking air quality samples. The space agency said that as part of its DISCOVER-AQ air quality field campaign, it will send a P-3B research plane over Northeast Maryland and the main route between Baltimore and from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. NASA said the 117-foot, four-engine turboprop plane will flay as low as 1,000 feet above the ground as it does its part in a mission to improve the ability of satellites to measure ground-level air quality from space.

The General Assembly passed three environmental protection measures in its recently concluded session that affect fly ash, air quality and storm-water management, according to the county. The legislation strengthens existing regulations requiring air quality monitoring for coal fly ash and extends the statute of limitations for storm-water management plans to three years, providing consistent enforcement of environmental laws. The legislation also requires the state to include county reimbursement claims for environmental health monitoring and testing, in cases where the state collects fines.

Despite it being one of the hottest summers on record in Baltimore, "code red" air pollution days are at their lowest levels since 2009.  There has been only one "code red" day, considered unhealthy for everyone -- June 29, the day intense heat fueled the deadly derecho storm. That is according to AirNow, an air-quality website maintained by a handful of federal government agencies. There have been 14 days with "code orange" conditions in at least part of the Baltimore area so far this summer.

With temperatures predicted to top 100 degrees today and stay in the high 90s into next week, air-quality forecasters are warning that smog across much of Maryland likely will reach unhealthful levels for children, older adults and anyone with breathing or heart problems. Smog, or ground-level ozone pollution, is expected to hit "Code Orange" levels through Sunday in the Baltimore metropolitan area, according to Clean Air Partners , which publishes air-quality forecasts prepared for the Maryland Department of the Environment and the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments.

Temperature gauges approached triple digits Wednesday on the first day of summer, packing county pools, opening cooling centers and setting the stage for the season of swelter. Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport saw a high of 98 degrees around 3 p.m., missing the record of 100 set in 1931. With high humidity, the heat index topped 100 across the Baltimore area. The normal high for this time of year is 85 degrees. Chances for a record remain Thursday.

Humidity is intense in some parts of Maryland, and it is expected to continue for a few days. Summer weather is upon us. Martin State Airport in Middle River posted a dew point of 72 degrees as of 9:45 a.m., beyond the normal mugginess of a hot Baltimore day. The air is thick, wet and heavy there. In Annapolis, the dew point was 68 degrees by 10 a.m., while BWI Marshall Airport was at 64 degrees. With dew points, anything above 60 degrees is uncomfortable, while getting above 70 degrees is downright unbearable.

Air quality will be poor in Baltimore on Sunday, according to state officials. Higher than normal air pollution concentrations could threaten sensitive groups like children, the elderly and people with asthma, heart disease or lung disease. People who may fall into these categories should avoid strenous activity or exercise outdoors. Late Saturday, the Maryland Department of the Environment issued Sunday's code orange air quality alert for the Baltimore metro region. More information about the alert can be found on the Department of the Enviornment's website or by calling the Maryland Air Quality Hotline at 410-537-3247.

Just in time for the start of ozone season, the Environmental Protection Agency officially reminds us that Baltimoreans are still breathing unhealthful levels of pollution in their air in late spring and summer. The city and its suburbs were among 45 metro areas nationwide that EPA listed on Tuesday as being in "nonattainment" with air quality standards set in 2008 for ground-level ozone, or smog. Ozone is the byproduct of chemicals emitted in vehicle exhaust and from a wide variety of other sources, including power plants and factories.

The state urged residents of the Baltimore region to take precautions today because air quality is expected to approach unhealthful levels.The air quality yesterday was moderate, with an index reading at 4 p.m. of 71 for ground-level ozone. The air is declared "Code Orange," or approaching unhealthful levels, when the ozone readings are 89-99. It is "Code Red," or harmful, when the index reaches 100 or above.This summer, the index has registered over 100 on July 8, July 6 and June 22, according to the Maryland Department of the Environment.

In the wake of complaints at Columbia's Jeffers Hill Elementary School, Howard County PTA officials have called on all county schools to form parent committees to deal with air quality issues."

Baltimore's air is healthier to breathe than it used to be, but the region still has some of the nation's worst smog and soot pollution, according to the American Lung Association. In its annual report on the state of the nation's air, the advocacy group says the greater Baltimore-Washington region had nearly 41 fewer days of high ozone levels during 2010, the most recent year for which verified federal air-quality data are available. But the region still had the 13th most bad smog days out of 277 metropolitan areas across the country.

The Boston Marathon turned out to be a hot, sweaty, grueling race for even the most experienced runners. The Boston Globe reported that more than 2,100 people were treated for heat exhaustion, dehydration and other illnesses because of temperatures that reached well into the 80s during Monday's race. It was one of those races where people were just grateful to finish. There probably weren't too many personal records that day. It could be a sign for what's to come for the rest of the running season, which may shape up to be a toasty one. But that's no reason for people to retire their running shoes for the season.