Utah air quality has been good, but that may change soon
Jan 23, 2023, 1:00 PM
FILE: Smog blankets the Salt Lake Valley during an inversion, as seen from Little Cottonwood Canyon on Thursday, Jan. 20, 2022. Utah is in for another major heat wave this week. Much of the Wasatch Front could see temperatures at or near 100. (Kristin Murphy /Deseret News)
(Kristin Murphy /Deseret News)
SALT LAKE CITY — You may have noticed that our skies have been clearer this winter. With all the storms, the air quality in Utah has been in the green.
By this time of year, the state has usually had quite a few orange air quality days, but not this year. We’ve only had one so far.
Director of the Utah Division of Air Quality Bryce Bird said he thinks that will change since we don’t have any storms in the forecast.
“If a high pressure [system] moves in and blocks a few storms from coming and hitting the valleys, certainly that would be the situation where we’d see the pollutants start to build up.”
KSL Meteorologist Matt Johnson said a high-pressure system is in fact moving in.
West Coast high pressure is back 😢#utwx pic.twitter.com/EwTGV48CKk
— Matthew Johnson (@KSL_Matt) January 23, 2023
According to the Utah Division of Air Quality forecast, in Salt Lake, the air quality will turn from “good” to “moderate” by Tuesday.
Bird recommended that Utahns keep an eye on the forecast and try to drive less on days that have high inversion potential.
