This week at Snowbird, (Little Cottonwood canyon Utah) may best described as or at least, a foot out of purgatory. Purgatory being defined as Salt Lake City’s notorious seasonal cycle of inversions. In the Wasatch front air quality has reached the code red status. Polluted air is measured by the AQI (air quality index) developed by the EPA. (Environmental Protection Agency ) It is calculated based on the pollution levels of five major air pollutants regulated by the Clean Air Act: ground-level ozone, particle pollution (also known as particulate matter), carbon monoxide (CO), sulfur dioxide(SO2), and nitrogen dioxide(NO2). AQI relates the general health effects associated with different pollution levels, as well as the necessary precautionary steps to take when the air pollution levels become alarmingly high. This week the alarm has sounded to the maximum level red (meaning hazardous to anyone's health.
It works like this; cold air is trapped close to ground level in the high mountain valleys of Utah (Salt Lake City where I reside) and is held there by atmospheric high pressure. The cold air develops with increasingly trapped pollutants until like this week visibility has decreased to ¼ of a mile. Besides the debilitating respiratory effects the inversions increased depression in many if not most individuals is another malady to contend with. The strategy to coping with the inversions is to get to a higher altitude. Just above the valleys floor the skies are blue and the air much cleaner.
My time spent at Snowbird was a life saver. Breathing fresher air and seeing brilliant blue sky while having a nice swim in the Cliff’s spa outdoor pool and a good soak in the hot tub rejuvenated me in a way I am still looking for words to describe. (damn fine for now)
Much of the pollution in the valleys inversion is contributed to by automobile emissions. So bad air days are an important reason to use public transportation. Transportation organized by the UTA (Utah Transit Authority) works to consolidate commuters and reduce the no of individual vehicles on the roads. In respect to getting out of the valley and up to the mountains the UTA ski bus greatly reduces canyon pollution and a whole lot of canyon traffic. Another upside to the ski bus is that it conveniently drops off passengers right at the resort centers main entrance and the lodge doors. Talking with out of state and out of country visitors they are amazed that one can fly into Salt Lake’s international airport, take the train to the ski bus departure location and have a safe ride right to the world class resorts and the” Greatest Snow on Earth”
Feeling much better now and with my creative thoughts restored I am now ready to to concentrate on painting.
It works like this; cold air is trapped close to ground level in the high mountain valleys of Utah (Salt Lake City where I reside) and is held there by atmospheric high pressure. The cold air develops with increasingly trapped pollutants until like this week visibility has decreased to ¼ of a mile. Besides the debilitating respiratory effects the inversions increased depression in many if not most individuals is another malady to contend with. The strategy to coping with the inversions is to get to a higher altitude. Just above the valleys floor the skies are blue and the air much cleaner.
My time spent at Snowbird was a life saver. Breathing fresher air and seeing brilliant blue sky while having a nice swim in the Cliff’s spa outdoor pool and a good soak in the hot tub rejuvenated me in a way I am still looking for words to describe. (damn fine for now)
Much of the pollution in the valleys inversion is contributed to by automobile emissions. So bad air days are an important reason to use public transportation. Transportation organized by the UTA (Utah Transit Authority) works to consolidate commuters and reduce the no of individual vehicles on the roads. In respect to getting out of the valley and up to the mountains the UTA ski bus greatly reduces canyon pollution and a whole lot of canyon traffic. Another upside to the ski bus is that it conveniently drops off passengers right at the resort centers main entrance and the lodge doors. Talking with out of state and out of country visitors they are amazed that one can fly into Salt Lake’s international airport, take the train to the ski bus departure location and have a safe ride right to the world class resorts and the” Greatest Snow on Earth”
Feeling much better now and with my creative thoughts restored I am now ready to to concentrate on painting.
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