Inversion Worsens Air Quality

Wed., Feb. 14, 1996

From Staff Reports

Spokane’s air quality continued to degenerate Tuesday.

A weather inversion trapped dust, grit and carbon monoxide in the area, sending the air index into the unhealthy category.

Local air quality officials reported a pollution index of 109 as of 3:30 p.m. Tuesday. Air quality was moderately bad on Monday, according to the Spokane County Air Pollution Control Authority.

An unhealthy reading on the index is between 100 and 200. Moderate air quality is between 50 and 100, and good air registers under 50 on the index.

The bad air triggered a yellow alert within the Spokane smoke control zone.

Only U.S. Environmental Protection Agency-approved wood stoves are allowed within the smoke control zone, and all open burning is banned countywide, said SCAPCA officials.

, DataTimes

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