SALT LAKE CITY — Inversion season is here and state leaders want those in the valley to be prepared and do their part in reducing emissions.
"This year unfortunately we're looking at average or slightly warmer temperatures and average or lower rainfall totals," explained Corbin Anderson, who serves as a Bureau Manager of Air Quality for the Salt Lake County Health Department.
Inversion happens when a warmer layer of air settles on top of the valley, keeping cold air down below and trapping it in Utah.
All of the pollution that's created gets trapped along with the air and that pollution can quickly accumulate to pretty dangerous levels.
Experts forecast that air quality in Salt Lake, Utah and Cache counties will be at a moderate level Tuesday and they're asking that residents take voluntary action to reduce emissions.
The Salt Lake County Health Department just released a new tool that collects crowd-sourced readings from two different sensor networks plus measurements from state monitoring stations in order to track air quality.
With the data, the map, called "Airview," allows people to check out real-time neighborhood air quality data.
"So you can have this information available to make your own decisions again about what your outdoor activity may be," explained Anderson, "Or even to make sure that you're getting your own furnace filters up to speed and replacing those because we're going to have a high pollution day coming up or that's projected coming up."
Experts hope that with real-time data focused on neighborhoods, residents will be inspired to take more action to reduce air pollution.
Carpooling, using mass transit and trip chaining are some of the ways Utahns are encouraged to cut down on their own individual emissions.
