Can We Trust the Air Quality Reports?

Posted on June 23, 2003 in Weather

The Weather Channel thinks that the cleansing rains we’ve had are bad for my health:

Research has shown that a combination of high winds, unusually cold weather and low wind chills may impact people who suffer from respiratory ailments such as asthma or emphysema. Hot, humid, stagnant air can also cause discomfort for people with respiratory conditions.

What’s interesting here is what is missing: no mention of smog and other air pollutants. The other day, I noticed, you couldn’t see more than five miles because of the air pollution that had drifted down from Los Angeles. Yet the Weather Channel declared that the respiratory index for the day was a 9. Tonight it is a 4.

Is it just me or have I hit on yet another distortion by the corporate media? I don’t doubt that the factors they mentioned affect my breathing, but why the coyness about air pollution? It’s not just nature: it’s the crap we’ve pumped out until it bounces off the inversion layer and gets in our face where we suck it in.