8 Days of Ozone Alerts

As of yesterday, the state has issued 8 consecutive ozone alerts, that's an ozone health alert every day between July 12 and July 19th. Yesterday's alert lasts until today at 4:00 P.M. and given the forecast for the weekend--hot, sunny, and mostly clear--we're likely to see ozone alerts throughout the weekend.

Despite the ozone alerts, the Denver metro area still has not violated federal health standards for ozone. Notwithstanding that, ozone has reached unhealthy levels. Yesterday, it peaked at 81 parts per billion at the Rocky Flats monitor. Health standards are set at 80 parts per billion and for a violation to occur, the three year average of the 4th highest maximum ozone readings need to exceed 85.

Even though things have been bad in the Denver metro area, it has to get even worse before we violate and actually have to clean up this mess. With 8 consecutive days of ozone alerts and more likely to come, things may well be on track to get worse.