Ozone Warning for This Weekend & Might be Regular Thing in TC

With hot weather and a breeze from the north holding air in the area, the Washington State Department of Ecology has issued an Ozone Warning for Sunday through maybe Tuesday.

Ozone high in the atmosphere is good, but if it is low near the ground it can aggravate asthma, inflame and scar lung tissue, and make people more susceptible to bronchitis and pneumonia, according to reports.

In a recent study, the Ozone average in Tri-Cities for 2015 through 2017 exceeded the federal regulatory limit for ozone.

The Tri-City-area government agencies, the Department of Ecology, the Benton Clean Air Agency and Ben Franklin Transit are all working together on a solution.

The chemicals that create ozone can come from many sources including the exhaust of motor vehicles, gasoline vapors, and from industrial facilities.