Air quality alert issued for Kansas City area. How many have been issued so far this year?
An orange ozone alert has been issued for the Kansas City area, the fifth time this spring such a warning was warranted, according to the Mid-America Regional Council.
While an orange alert was issued, the Kansas City area’s poor air quality is on the cusp of an red ozone alert day.
The Mid-America Regional Council, which is also known as MARC, issued an orange air quality alert, saying that an unhealthy level of ground-level ozone, also known as ozone pollution or smog, is expected across the Kansas City metro area for people sensitive to pollution.
MARC forecast an Air Quality Index of 150 on Thursday, which is the upper limit of the orange alert category. At an Air Quality Index of 151 to 200, a red ozone alert is issued, which means that the air quality is considered unhealthy for all.
Under an orange ozone alert, active children and adults and people with respiratory disease, such as asthma, should limit prolonged outdoor exertion, according to MARC.
Under a red ozone alert, “active children and adults and people with respiratory disease, such as asthma, should avoid prolonged outdoor exertion. Everyone else, especially children, should limit prolonged outdoor exertion,” according to MARC.
This is the fifth time this ozone season, which runs from March 1 – October 31, that an ozone alert has been issued. That compares to two ozone alerts issued in 2022, four issued in 2021 and 10 issued in 2018. No ozone alerts were issued during the 2019 and 2020 ozone seasons.
Last year, the Kansas City area exceeded the EPA’s standard for ground-level ozone on six days. That compares to seven days in 2021, one in 2020, zero in 2019 and 12 in 2018.
This story was originally published June 15, 2023 at 12:09 PM.
