LAKE COUNTY — The Lake County Air Quality Management office issued a health alert Wednesday because of degraded air quality and heat. The warning is expected to continue today as prevailing northwest winds are expected to bring smoke from wildfires north of Lake County.
Lake County Health Officer Dr. Karen Tait said temperatures expected to be above 110 are not a cause for alarm.
“Nighttime cooling into the 60s helps to avoid conditions that could otherwise lead to extreme heat emergencies,” Tait said.
Tait said the general public should take precautions to avoid heat-related illness, particularly sensitive groups including infants and young children, adults age 65 or older, people taking medications and people who have heart disease or high blood pressure.
Precautionary steps include limiting outdoor activity to morning and evening hours, drinking plenty of fluids, avoiding caffeine and heavy meals, resting in shady areas, wearing wide-brimmed hats, using sunscreen with a sun protection factor (SPF) of 15 or higher and visiting air-conditioned buildings such as libraries and retailers.
Symptoms such as heavy sweating, weakness, dizziness, headache, nausea or fainting may be signs of heat-related illness, according to Tait. Medical help should be sought if symptoms to not go away with rest and drinking fluids.
Lake County”s air quality rated 93 on the federal Air Quality Index (AQI), based on a partial day”s data reported at 3 p.m. on Wednesday. That falls in the upper end of the “moderate” category, with a health warning for sensitive individuals starting when the AQI number is between 101 and 150.
“The smoke acts as a cloud cover that reduces high temperatures in the daytime, but it”s usually only a couple of degrees lower. But the smoke also acts as an insulator that keeps temperatures warmer at night, and we start out warmer in the mornings,” Deputy Air Pollution Control Officer Doug Gearhart said.
Ozone levels are below the state standard, according to Gearhart. Ozone is a byproduct of a chemical reaction between smoke in the air and sunlight, which produces secondary particles that multiply and grow larger as they draw moisture out of the air.
Smoke can be transported to sea in a circulation cell and then return over Northern California in a wide band of smoke-filled air and combine with new smoke as it passes over ongoing fires, according to Reynolds.
“Fresher smoke reduces ozone levels. We are seeing fresher smoke. If we see that recirculated smoke come around, it will bring higher ozone levels, because it has had more time to heat and react and form those secondary compounds,” Gearhart said.
The National Weather Service predicts temperatures over 100 degrees Fahrenheit all week with poor overnight recoveries. The temperature is expected to drop to 96 degrees on Saturday.
Contact Tiffany Revelle at trevelle@record-bee.com.
