Valley air quality health threat for some

Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2002 | 11:09 a.m.

Clark County officials issued an air quality alert for those with lung diseases on Monday because the summer smog, smoke from neighboring wildland fires and dust hanging in Southern Nevada skies became health threats.

People with heart or respiratory diseases such as asthma should avoid outdoor exercise and indoor second-hand smoke, county officials and a doctor said.

Officials advised everyone, especially children and the elderly, to limit prolonged outdoor exertion.

As long as light winds, warm temperatures, smoke from a wildfire in California's Sequoia National Forest and thunderstorms kicking dust into the Las Vegas Valley from northwestern Arizona continue to pollute the air, the county will issue daily alerts, Clark County spokesman Erik Pappa said.

Six of 22 monitoring stations across the Las Vegas Valley recorded unhealthy air Monday.

The worst readings were from monitors at West Alta Drive and Buffalo Road, West Gowan Avenue and Buffalo, and West Alta and Town Center.

University Medical Center Emergency Room Dr. David Slattery said the winds are creating an unhealthy mix in the air.

"You don't have to rely on the weather report or whether the pollution index is high," Slattery said. "You know by walking outside."

For today the National Weather Service is predicting a high temperature around 101 degrees and winds between 15 and 25 mph, meteorologist Jim Harrison said.

If today's temperature reaches 101, it will be normal for this time of year, he said.

Monday the thermometer topped out at 103 degrees with breezy conditions that spread the haze across the valley.

By Thursday winds should clear the pollution out of the air and cool daytime temperatures to the high 90s, Harrison said.

The weekend is expected to bring warmer temperatures and less wind.