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SALT LAKE CITY — During a smoky evening at Sugar House Park, families enjoyed time on the playground and at the picnic areas. Evan Johnson is out with his small children. He's keeping a close eye on the skies.
"You can't see the mountain on either side, which is never a good sign," Johnson said. He also needs his kids to burn off some energy. After all, it's still summer break. "It's hard to stay inside the house all the time."
KSL-TV's Chopper 5 flew above the Salt Lake Valley, where the skies were anything but clear. Bryce Bird with the Utah Department of Environmental Quality says wildfires raging across the West Coast of the United States are part of the air quality problem. The other is ozone.
"We are exceeding the federal air quality standard for ozone on most afternoons during these conditions," Bird said. And, he said the smoke has the same particulate matter we see in the winter months during the "inversion."
For now, Bird said people in sensitive groups should limit their time outdoors, and everyone else should try to limit their time to mornings and evenings, when pollution levels are at the lowest.
Johnson said he and his family feel fine so far and his hope is time outdoors is better than not being active.
"I like to think that the benefits of exercise cancel out the potential negative health effects of exercising in the smoke," he said.
You can find the latest conditions at the KSL Air Quality Network.
