An update from the USU Bingham Research Center reports that the current high ozone episode is expected to last
through Saturday
with the highest ozone levels occurring Friday or Saturday. The Research Center encourages those in the oil and gas industry to, if possible, delay activities that lead to emissions until
after Saturday
. “A storm
Saturday evening
and Sunday will break up the inversion, and another storm early next week will keep winter inversions from forming again until at least Wednesday,” shares Dr. Seth Lyman, Director of the Bingham Research Center. On Thursday, ozone measured at 78 ppb (parts per billion) at Ouray, Roosevelt, and Myton and it is expected to be higher today and Saturday before the storm moves in. “Temperatures are predicted to be quite warm on Sunday, perhaps as much as 40 degrees Fahrenheit in the lowest elevations,” explains Dr. Lyman. “Rain, rather than snow, is predicted at the lower elevations for Sunday during the day. We could see some significant melting throughout the Basin, especially at the lowest elevations and on the southwest side of the Basin where snow cover is already sparse. It is possible that this warm storm will melt out so much snow cover that the atmosphere won’t be able to produce more multi-day inversion episodes.” All can view real time Uintah Basin air quality data at
ubair.usu.edu
. A list of emission reducing actions is listed at
http://binghamresearch.usu.edu/OzoneAlert
.
