Ken SchreinerHey, Look Marge! We Made National… Uh… News
A red alert, I mean, red letter day in Utah history.
Salt Lake and Davis counties, home to more than 1 million people, have been under a “red” alert for 16 days in January, which means the unhealthy air should be avoided by the elderly or anyone with respiratory problems. Some schools have kept kids off the playground.
Inversions aren’t new to Utah, but this one is “wide, deep and dramatic,” said Bob Dalley of the state Division of Air Quality, whose daily Web updates are must-reads.
Mike Atwell, 47, of Bozeman, Mont., in town for an outdoor-industry convention at the Salt Palace, looked east toward the barely visible Wasatch Mountains, site of the 2002 Winter Olympics, and shook his head.
“It’s a huge bummer. It’s not what you see — it’s what you can’t see. You feel robbed,” he said. “Mountains are why we live in the West. I feel like I’m in a foggy daze.”
January 30th, 2007 at 7:27 pm
How, um, proud. If there’s one upside to this haze nightmare, maybe it’ll be that people take air quality more seriously now.
January 30th, 2007 at 8:48 pm
We should start having an Inversion Days festival, parade, queen, etc. around this time of year.
January 31st, 2007 at 6:29 am
When The Great Salt Lake began to expand too much, the Gov and all came up with a plan to pump the excess out on to the salt flats. Problem solved. What we need is some sort of technical fix, like giant motorized windmills pointed toward the sky. blowing this stuff heavenward. Either that or we’ll all be blowin’ heavenward ourselves. Gasp, cough, choke.
January 31st, 2007 at 8:49 am
Caveat: They actually suggested that in Mexico City 15 years ago. To my knowledge, the system was never built. Here’s some more info:
http://library.witpress.com/pages/PaperInfo.asp?PaperID=12911
Anonymous: GAGFEST! Yeah!
January 31st, 2007 at 1:41 pm
Ken, I’ve been thinking in those terms for probably 40 years. It would require a sizeable ‘chimney’ possibly near the size of the proposed Real stadium, and everyone would, of course, have to stand back for fear of getting sucked in.