Local air quality impacted by cold snap
Posted February 23, 2017 9:18 pm.
Last Updated February 23, 2017 9:23 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – The cold snaps of the past couple of months have had an impact on our air quality.
Stats show Vancouver has had 34 ‘low risk’ air quality days so far this year compared to 42 during the same time frame last year.
Roger Quan is the director of air quality with Metro Vancouver and says they usually look at numbers over a longer period of time to determine trends.
But he does see a correlation between the air quality and the cold. He explains we tend to stay at home and turn up the heat when the temperatures drop.
“And that means more emissions of two things: nitrogen oxides from the combustion of fuels, like natural gas furnaces. And if the heating fuel happens to be wood, we would expect there would be an increase in particulate matter as well.”
That thicker air tends to stay put during those chilly periods.
“On clear, cold sub-zero temperature days, we have meteorological conditions that are not conducive to dispersion of air pollutants. And that applies not just to heating pollutants but those from vehicles,” notes Quan.
But he points out during those cold snaps, local air quality never dipped low enough to trigger any warnings.
