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Tulsa was the first metro area in the nation to develop a forecast for ground-level ozone, which forms from a heat-induced chemical reaction between nitrogen oxide emissions and other volatile organic compounds.

A portable sign alerts motorists to an Ozone Alert, when people are encouraged to drive less, not use gasoline-powered lawn equipment and not fill up their cars with gas until after dark. There’s really no difference between an Ozone Alert and an Air Quality Alert.

No matter how much I wish we were already transitioning into fall, there is no denying that day after day, these hot, humid conditions roll on. We are still in the thick of that summer-like pattern, especially last month, when a dome of high pressure dominated over the area and left us with hotter-than-average temperatures, little wind and little rainfall. It also brought multiple days where an Air Quality Alert was issued for the area. You have probably heard this forecast before, but one reader wanted to know:

What is an Air Quality Alert day and why does it typically happen during the hot, summer months?

According to the National Weather Service, an Air Quality Alert day is issued when conditions seem favorable for ozone to build up near the ground. This buildup may rise to levels that can cause health complications.

The conditions must be right for this to occur. Winds must be light and vapor from gasoline fuels, exhaust or air pollutants must also be trapped close to the ground. And according to the NWS, the sunshine and heat from the summer months will trigger a chemical process to occur that results in ozone development near the ground. This increases significantly during the afternoon and evening hours.

Of course ozone can be beneficial at times. In the upper atmosphere it actually screens out the radiation emitted by the sun, but near the ground it can be harmful to those with health conditions, as well as vegetation. According to the NWS website, ground-level ozone is not directly emitted into the air, but rather forms from that heat-induced chemical reaction between nitrogen oxide emissions and other volatile organic compounds.

Nationally, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) work together to release daily air-quality forecasts through the Air Quality Forecast (AQF) System.

Locally, the Indian Nations Council of Governments (INCOG) is behind the efforts of the Tulsa region to stay alert to changing conditions when it comes to ozone in our area.

Tulsa was actually the first metro area in the nation to develop a forecast for ground-level ozone. Back in 1991, INCOG pushed to get Tulsa off of the federal government’s “dirty air list.”

“A committee within INCOG saw the need for action to be taken to get off of the dirty air list before the Clean Air Act was amended in 1990,” said Nancy Graham, program coordinator for INCOG. “They knew that if Tulsa was on the list when the Clean Air Act was amended that we would have economic constraints. Other parts of the country were already starting to see this, and we didn’t want Tulsa to go through that as well.”

So INCOG developed a program for the Tulsa region that would put out a forecast to show bad air patterns.

“Of course this was before computers,” Graham said. “So it was a box model on paper with weather conditions written down that would spell out whether we were meeting conditions for healthy air quality. It was faxed to various businesses back then because we didn’t have the computers. But the fax would come through and tell people and businesses that today was a day they needed to take action to help.”

Since the program was established 31 years ago, there have been major improvements in Tulsa.

“It is just the little things that people do nowadays that has made a difference,” Graham said. “If people or businesses just do that one thing, like fill their gas tank up in the morning rather than in the middle of the day, it makes a huge change.”

And if you are wondering, like I was, there isn’t any difference between an Ozone Alert day or Air Quality Alert day. Both are terms that indicate a forecast for higher ozone on any particular day. And right now, Tulsa only monitors for ozone, not other particulate matter, which may be monitored in other parts of the country by the EPA.

Tulsa World Scene podcast: Paying tribute to Nichelle Nichols, Olivia Newton-John and Clu Gulager.

On Sundays, Tulsa World Meteorologist Kirsten Lang answers readers' questions about weather. Contact her by phone or email with those questions. Follow her on social media to keep up with all of her stories and forecasts.

Email: kirsten.lang@tulsaworld.com

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Tulsa was the first metro area in the nation to develop a forecast for ground-level ozone, which forms from a heat-induced chemical reaction between nitrogen oxide emissions and other volatile organic compounds.

A portable sign alerts motorists to an Ozone Alert, when people are encouraged to drive less, not use gasoline-powered lawn equipment and not fill up their cars with gas until after dark. There’s really no difference between an Ozone Alert and an Air Quality Alert.

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