Vermont Air: A Hazy Shade Of Winter Indeed

Hazy shade of winter indeed. A temperature inversion gave us this
murky view of St. Albans, Vermont Saturday. The bluish
greyish tint to the fog suggests some pollution mixed in. 

Saturday in Vermont, the atmosphere had an interesting look to it.  It wasn't necessarily a healthy look, either.

It was murky and foggy, but the fog had a blue and gray slate colored tint to it. It's as if somebody added a bit of steel blue food coloring to the atmosphere. The atmosphere totally had me humming   that old song, "Hazy Shade of Winter," that old Simon and Garfunkle song released in 1966. You might remember it as the 1980s version by the Bangles.

Anyway, the hazy, foggy air was a sign there has been a bit of air pollution in this weekend's murk.

By this morning, air quality in the Champlain Valley had become unhealthy for sensitive groups, according to data from the Vermont Department of Enviromental Conservation. That means people like the elderly, patients with heart and lung problems, and that type of thing should probably avoid prolonged or heavy exertion outdoors.  

This relatively bad air also covered a large portion of Quebec, including the Montreal metro area as of Sunday morning.

Elsewhere, through most of Vermont, western and southern New England and New York, the air quality was "moderate."  That means it's not necessarily unhealthy, but it's not super great, either. The situation has not gotten bad enough for anyone to issue any air quality alerts.

The wind has been pretty calm over the past few days, which is uncharacteristically of winter, Under these conditions, inversions find it easy to form, and that's what we've had on our hands for the past few days.

A regional air quality map from Sunday morning. Orange shading is
air that's unhealthy for senstive people. Yellow is not hazardous, really,
but there is some pollution in the air. . 

Inversions are when there's a layer of warmer air above the surface, with somewhat chillier air near the ground.  That layer acts as a lid, trapping clouds, moisture and pollution near the surface. We've had this type of weather pattern in Vermont often this winter.  More so than usual.

The inversion began when the air was more clear late last week.  Now, it's dank and cloudy and foggy and hazy.  Occasionally, the sun might poke through, but it will remain hazy.

Most of this stuff in the atmosphere is just harmless moisture trapped under the inversion. But as noted, there's a bit of pollution mixed in, mostly particulates. These are teeny, tiny particles and bits come from the exhaust of cars, trucks, wood and pellet stoves and whatever else people are burning out there.

Under extreme conditions, these wintertime inversions can get very dangerous in terms of pollution, though I want to very strongly emphasize this sort of meh air over Vermont now is not and will NOT become especially dangerous.

But there have been instances, especially in the days before the 1963 federal Clean Air Act when air pollution was far worse.

For instance, in the autumn of 1948, an inversion formed over Donora, Pennsylvania.  Emissions from a huge steel mill in the area causd a choking smog in Donora that killed 19 people and sickened hundreds, if not thousands.

Luckily, there's no threat of that happening.  See, environmental laws DO make a difference!

It looks as if it will remain murky in and around Vermont through Monday, and maybe into Tuesday.  I don't think the relatively limited amount of pollution will get worse, as the air is at least stirring some, and bouts of light precipitation falling through this air gunk can help.

By Wednesday, the wind will pick up a bit, and the air coming into northern New England will have originated from the rather pristine environment around James Bay, Canada. Storminess later in the week will help ensure the air quality remains good, as the winds and precipitation from storms disperses accumulated yuckiness in the air.