An air quality health advisory is in effect for both Saturday and Sunday this weekend for Long Island, the five boroughs of New York City, Westchester and Rockland counties.
Temperatures this weekend will creep up into the low 90s, when, combined with high humidity will produce a heat index of with heat index of 107 Saturday and 110 Sunday, according to the National Weather Service.
The air quality index on Saturday is forecast to be 133 and on Sunday, 136, according to the State Department of Environmental Conservation. The pollutant of concern is ground-level ozone.
Riverhead Town will open a cooling center at its Senior and Human Resource Center at 60 Shade Tree Lane, Riverhead on Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. All town beaches will remain open with lifeguards until 7 p.m. both days.
On days when the air quality index is 101-150 (unhealthy for sensitive groups) people with lung disease, such as asthma, children and older adults, and people who are active outdoors should limit prolonged outdoor exertion, according to environmental and health officials. An air quality index of 0 to 50 is considered good; from 51 to 100, moderate; from 101 to 150, unhealthy for sensitive groups; 151-200, unhealthy; 201-300, very unhealthy; and from 301 to 500 is considered hazardous.
Ground-level ozone is formed in the Earth’s lower atmosphere when pollutants emitted by cars, power plants, industrial boilers, refineries, chemical plants, and other sources react chemically in the presence of sunlight. Hot, sunny weather provides ideal conditions for the formation of ground-level ozone.
Ozone is a harmful air pollutant, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. It should not be confused with the ozone that occurs naturally in the Earth’s upper atmosphere – six to 30 miles above the Earth’s surface – the EPA says, where it forms a protective layer that shields us from the sun’s harmful ultraviolet rays.
According to the EPA, ground-level ozone can:
- Irritate your respiratory system. When this happens, you may cough, feel irritation or soreness in your throat, or experience chest tightness or pain when taking a deep breath.
- Reduce lung function. This can make it more difficult for you to breathe as deeply and vigorously as you normally would, especially when exercising. You may notice that breathing starts to feel uncomfortable and that you are taking more rapid and shallow breaths than normal.
- Inflame and damage cells that line your lungs. Within a few days, the damaged cells are replaced and the old cells are shed—much like the way your skin peels after a sunburn.
- Make your lungs more susceptible to infection.
- Aggravate asthma. When ozone levels are unhealthy, more people with asthma have symptoms that require a doctor’s attention or the use of medication. Ozone makes people more sensitive to allergens—the most common triggers for asthma attacks. Also, asthmatics may be more severely affected by reduced lung function and airway inflammation. People with asthma should have an asthma action plan and follow it carefully when ozone levels are unhealthy.
- Aggravate other chronic lung diseases such as emphysema and chronic bronchitis.
- Cause permanent lung damage. Repeated short-term ozone damage to children’s developing lungs may lead to reduced lung function in adulthood. In adults, ozone exposure may accelerate the natural decline in lung function that occurs with age.
Suffolk County has been designated by the EPA as a non attainment area for ozone, meaning the air quality does not meet the air quality standard for this pollutant.
For additional information, please visit the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation website at, https://on.ny.gov/nyaqi, or call the Air Quality Hotline at 800-535-1345.
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