Stagnant Summer Days on the Rise in U.S.

Those long, hot, sultry days of summer, the ones where the air seems so still it wouldn’t disturb a leaf, are also days where air quality can take a nosedive.  With winds barely above a whisper and atmosphere-scouring rains nowhere in sight, pollutants can build up in the air we breathe, with potentially serious health consequences.

Since climate change is expected to usher in more oppressive heat waves, the number of days with stagnant air will likely go up, which could mean more days with bad air quality, if nothing is done to combat pollution.  A recent Climate Central analysis suggests they already have.

Days with less than stellar air quality can of course happen at any time of year.  They’re a regular occurrence during winter in Salt Lake City, where so-called inversions (featuring a layer of cold air trapped below a warm layer) allow pollutants to build up in the valley where the city sits.

But summer is when days with stagnant air are most likely to happen around most of the country, as areas of intense high pressure in the atmosphere can park over a region for days at a time, keeping away the winds and rains that could give the air a good cleaning.

When such events happen, it can mean that ozone and other harmful pollutants emitted by cars and industry can accumulate, irritating lungs and throats even in healthy people, but particularly causing issues for those with lung conditions like asthma.

Climate Central looked at how the number of summer “stagnation days” for cities across the U.S. had changed since 1973 using the National Centers for Environmental Information’s Air Stagnation Index.  The ASI uses a combination of upper air wind, surface wind and precipitation data to determine days when conditions are ripe for pollutants to build up in the air.

The analysis found that stagnation days had increased across much of the country, most noticeably in the Southwest and Southeast.  For example, in San Francisco there are on average 23 more stagnant air days each summer now than there were 40 years ago, while in New Orleans there are 28.

Read more at Stagnant Summer Days on the Rise in U.S.