As California Smog Worsens, Health Risks Increase

As California smog worsens as a result of extreme heat and drought, health risks increase for the state's residents, new reports say.

Over the last year, smog has blanketed Californian skies, stalling decades of progress towards cleaner air. And while many are anticipating a rainy and windy storm will soon clear away the dirty air, they may find their prayers unanswered as high-pressure systems have resulted in fewer storms, less circulation and unusually stagnant air.

"There's a steady trend of air quality getting better, but layered on top of that is the meteorology, which is a crazy, up-and-down thing that is very hard to predict," Anthony Wexler, director of the Air Quality Research Center at UC Davis, told the Los Angeles Times.

So with these prolonged dry spells, a layer of warm air is trapping cooler air below in the atmosphere, creating pollution on the ground in the form of smog.

But there is still hope yet for California, for it's possible that winter storms - even a weak El Niño -could stir up the air and sweep out the pollution.

For the San Joaquin Valley, conditions were the worst in the state last year. Fine particles, one type of air pollution, reached their highest concentrations in 13 years, measuring more than three times the federal standard of 35 micrograms per cubic meter.

And these high levels exacerbate health conditions, as well as result in premature deaths in California from cardiovascular disease and heart attacks.

"There are two different kinds of air pollution that both affect health - ozone, which is a gas, and the particles, which are little, you know, soot," Wexler told KFBK News.

On top of dealing with ozone pollution in the summer, which can harm children's lungs, trigger respiratory problems such as asthma and bronchitis and worsen heart and lung disease, now fine particles are an issue in the wintertime.

According to the LA Times, though these tiny specks of dirt measure less than one-thirtieth of a human hair, they can impair breathing and damage the heart and blood vessels. This type of pollution also reportedly causes as many early deaths in California as those do traffic accidents.

Without storms or wind, pollution from cars, wildfires and dry farmland continues to accumulate, increasing people's risk for health problems.

This prompted air quality officials to urge residents Monday to stop burning wood or fire logs and to cut back on driving time. The alert applies to the greater Los Angeles area, Orange County and the Inland Empire.