News - Blogs - Ozone and Tulsa temperatures. How do they compare

Ozone and Tulsa temperatures. How do they compare?
Published: 7/30/2011 7:00 AM
Last Modified: 7/29/2011 4:08 PM

Yes, let us clean our air.

After that last entry on how EMSA's heat alerts and Tulsa's temperatures don't necessarily go together (you can check it out by clicking here), I decided to look at another summer alert: Ozone Alerts.

Ozone Alerts are initiated by the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality for the Tulsa area (that includes you too, suburbs!) when projected weather conditions are conducive to the generation of ground-level ozone, which is formed when greenhouse gases are heated by the sun, and the wind is not likely to be strong enough to disperse the ozone.

People especially at risk are kids and older people. However, officials said those with lung or heart disease should be aware that increased air pollution may cause them to experience adverse health effects. Symptoms include chest pain, coughing, sneezing, nausea, headache and pulmonary congestion.

And as of July 29, we've already had 10 alerts.

Are high temperatures to blame for these alert days? Let's once again look at Tulsa's high temperatures for the alert days, according to the National Weather Service:

(by the way, "INCOG" stands for Indian Nations Council of Governments, which sponsors the Ozone Alert program in the Tulsa area. Also, that July 29 temperature is as of 3 p.m.)

Not only is June's hottest day (June 28, which hit 106 degrees) missing, but so are July's (several days with 107 degrees)

However, alerts are declared by DEQ. Perhaps if we look at the days the area exceeded the ozone standard, rather than just alert days, we'd see a stronger correlation with the high temperatures?

The Tulsa area has had 10 as of July 29. Here they are, once again with the Tulsa high temperatures from NWS:

So once again, some hot days, but incredibly, some cool days as well. If you are curious about why April had some exceedance days, these were attributed to the statewide wildfire danger during that month by DEQ specialist Curt Goeller.

Once again, much like the EMSA heat alerts, this probably shows that people's decisions, not the weather, has to do more with ozone compliance.

As such, here are some tips from the Indian Nations Council of Governments on helping keep the Tulsa area ozone levels down:

Drive less, avoiding long idle times

Bring your lunch to work

Refuel in the evening

Do garden chores gasoline-free

Postpone mowing, refueling and errands on alert days

For more information, including to check what our current ozone readings are for the area, check tulsaworld.com/ozonealert.

--Althea Peterson

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Almanac

Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun
Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec

	Temperature		Precipitation
Date	High Temp	Low Temp	Total	Month to date	Historical average
1	44°	16°	0	0.00	0.05
2	59°	24°	0	0.00	0.11
3	57°	33°	0	0.00	0.16
4	68°	37°	Trace	0.00	0.21
5	69°	29°	0	0.00	0.26
6	66°	33°	0	0.00	0.32
7	59°	38°	0.05	0.05	0.38
8	51°	34°	0	0.05	0.44
9	44°	36°	0.01	0.06	0.51
10	62°	37°	0.07	0.13	0.57
11	54°	28°	0	0.13	0.64
12	44°	30°	0.25	0.38	0.70
13	55°	40°	0.01	0.39	0.76
14	°	°			0.83
15	°	°			0.89
16	°	°			0.95
17	°	°			1.02
18	°	°			1.09
19	°	°			1.16
20	°	°			1.23
21	°	°			1.31
22	°	°			1.38
23	°	°			1.46
24	°	°			1.53
25	°	°			1.61
26	°	°			1.69
27	°	°			1.77
28	°	°			1.85

TEMPERATURE

RAINFALL

SNOWFALL

Weather World

Follow Jerry Wofford on Twitter for updates during severe weather conditions.

Tulsa weather milestones of 2013 (as of Feb. 12)

Highest temperature: 70 on Jan. 11 (Record: 115 on Aug. 15, 1936)
Lowest temperature: 15 on Jan. 16 (Record: Minus-16 on Jan. 22, 1930)
Hottest month (average): 40.5 degrees in January (Record: 91.7 degrees on July 1980)
Coldest month (average): 40. 5 degrees in January (Record: 21.7 in January 1918)
Most snowfall (day): 0.1 of an inch on Feb. 12(Record: 13.2 inches on Feb. 1, 2011)
Most snowfall (month): 0.1 of an inch in February(Record: 22.5 inches in February 2011)
Most rainfall (day): 0.91 of an inch on Jan. 29 (Record: 9.27 inches on May 26-27, 1984)
Most rainfall (month): 1.54 of an inch in January (Record: 18.18 inches on September 1971)
Highest wind speed: 30 mph on Jan. 30
Previous day with any rain: Feb. 12
Previous day with 1 inch or more of rain: Oct. 17, 2012
Previous day with any snow: Feb. 12
Previous day with freezing temperatures: Feb. 12
Read regular updates on Oklahoma's unpredictable weather and learn more about meteorology from the Tulsa office of the National Weather Service.

>> Visit the main weather page
>> Send us your weather photos
>> Meet the forecasters

Contributors
Staff Writer Althea Peterson started writing for the Tulsa World in March 2007 after previous stops at the Norman Transcript in 2006 and the Oklahoma Gazette in 2005. She followed her older brother from rural Wisconsin (with a public school that never seemed to call snow days) to the University of Oklahoma, but did not follow his pursuit to study meteorology. However, she tries to find as many opportunities to report on the weather as possible.

Staff Writer Jerry Wofford came to the Tulsa World in 2010 from The Manhattan Mercury in Manhattan, Kan. Originally from western Arkansas and a graduate of the University of Oklahoma, Jerry has lived in Tornado Alley his entire life and is one of those people who goes outside when the sirens go off.

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