A Spare the Air alert warning of poor air quality has been issued for Saturday, air quality officials said Friday, Aug. 10.

The alert was issued by the Bay Area Air Quality Management District for the third day in a row because of a forecast of high levels of ozone pollution caused by weather conditions, district officials said.

“High temperatures and low winds are continuing in the Bay Area, prolonging conditions that are unfavorable for air quality,” said district executive officer Jack Broadbent.

“Bay Area residents should continue to take action to safeguard their health and reduce pollution levels in the region.”

There is no free transit associated with this Spare the Air day, and there is no ban on wood burning in place. However, residents are urged to avoid driving and instead take public transit, carpool, walk or bike.

Ozone, or smog, can cause throat irritation, congestion and chest pain, trigger asthma, inflame the lining of the lungs and worsen bronchitis and emphysema. Over time, it will reduce lung function. Young children, seniors and those with respiratory and heart conditions are especially vulnerable to its effects and should stay indoors on high ozone days except in the early morning hours.

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5 Comments

  1. Slow news day story….Why not report the corruption in the Bay Area Quality Management District? Why not ask why or how the district can determine a Spare the Air alert for the entire Bay Area when the Bay Area has hundreds of micro-climates resulting in climate conditions varying from city to city. What a fsrce. Maybe your news teams time would be better spent on the determining what the BAAQMD’s motive is for creating air alerts.

  2. The Bay Area does have many different microclimates, but the prevailing winds collect all the pollution into large general areas. Just because your neighborhood isn’t suffering right now, if you create excessive pollution, you will be contributing to someone else’s suffering.

  3. I realize that out of political correctness, news media outlets run these Spare The Air alerts even though no discounts or free passes are given for public transit. But why aren’t you posting Flex Alerts, which ask people to reduce their power consumption? We had such an alert on Friday, and the only place I read about it was in the Daily Post. The air quality here is pretty good, even on Spare The Air days, compared to the 1970s, before the catalytic was introduced. But Flex Alerts are way more important. If power usage isn’t reduced, the next step is rolling blackouts. Nobody wants that. So I’d suggest that Palo Alto Onlne/Weekly get on top of the Flex Alerts from now on, in addition to the meaningless Spare The Air alerts.

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