Oklahoma City metro remains under ozone alert

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. (KFOR) - As wildfires in Canada continue to burn, much of the Oklahoma City metro remains under an ozone alert.

The Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality is issued an ozone alert for the Oklahoma City and Tulsa metropolitan areas for Wednesday, June 7, 2023.

The alert will initiate the issuance of an “Ozone Alert Day” for the Oklahoma City area by the Association of Central Oklahoma Governments, and an “Ozone Alert Day” for the Tulsa area by the Indian Nations Council of Governments.

This ozone alert is a prediction that concentrations of ozone will approach levels of concern over the next 24 hours. Sensitive individuals should plan accordingly. When these levels are reached, an Air Quality Health Advisory will be issued. Health Advisories are notifications that levels of ozone have reached unhealthy levels.  They are based on near real time monitoring values.

Doctors say it's important those with heart or breathing issues limit their time outdoors. Ozone affects people differently. 

To help avoid ozone formation and reduce your exposure:

• Car pool or ride the bus to work or school.
• Walk or ride a bicycle for short trips during morning hours when ozone levels are lower.
• Wait until evening to refuel your automobile or mow your lawn.
• Arrive and leave work a little earlier or later than usual to decrease rush-hour traffic.
• Drive your most fuel-efficient vehicle.
• Make sure gas caps on vehicles, lawn mowers and other equipment seal properly.
• Trip chain, combine errands to make one trip instead of several.
• Limit idling time in your vehicle.
• Limit the use of drive-through windows.
• Limit the use of charcoal starter fluid and other products that contain hydrocarbons.
• Postpone normally permissible outdoor burning to a non-Ozone Alert day.
• Limit or postpone the use of two-cycle engines (i.e., lawnmowers, weed eaters, motor boats and motor cycles).
• Telework when possible to reduce vehicles on the road and emissions

An Air Quality Health Advisory will be issued if/when ozone levels reach unhealthy for sensitive groups level.

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