An Air Quality Alert will be in effect Friday, June 9 for Madison and Morgan Counties. The Alabama Department of Environmental Management issued the air quality alert. The air quality over the last couple of days has been “moderate” across North Alabama but ground-level ozone looks to worsen over the area Friday. Particulate matter can hover over an area if the ingredients are favorable in the atmosphere. Typically, a high pressure overhead can cause an inversion which is a warmer layer above the surface that can help trap pollutants at the surface.

A level orange alert means “unhealthy for sensitive groups” so children, the elderly and those with breathing problems should limit exposure outdoors. You can help by limiting your driving, refraining from using gasoline-powered lawn equipment and conserving electricity by running your AC at a higher temperature. As long as high pressure is over our area and we have a north or northeast component to the wind, we’ll continue to see the haze from the smoke from the wildfires over Canada. A pattern change will come by the back half of the weekend, which should help alleviate the haze and air quality issues.