SALT LAKE CITY — The blanket of smog and poor air quality hovering over most of northern Utah is bad enough to make the area one of the worst spots in the entire country.
AIR QUALITY MAP: Take a real-time look at current air quality conditions in Utah
According to the real-time World Air Quality Index map, only one small area in central California has worse conditions than Salt Lake City and other locations along the Wasatch Front.
In fact, northern Utah is currently one of the worst places in all of North and South America as of Monday afternoon, with readings showing the air is "unhealthy for sensitive groups."
Salt Lake City's PM2.5 reading, which measures the particulate matter generally 2.5 micrometers or smaller, reached a high of 134 over the past 48 hours. The EPA defines particulate matter is the mixture of solid particles and liquid droplets found in the air.
"How small is 2.5 micrometers? Think about a single hair from your head. The average human hair is about 70 micrometers in diameter – making it 30 times larger than the largest fine particle," the EPA writes.
The dense fog early Monday didn't help matters, especially with visibility.
Time lapse video below shows inversion clouds over Draper:
Russ Edens takes his dogs on a walk at the Flight Park in Draper daily. Usually, they can see a beautiful valley view, but Monday morning they were greeted by a layer of hazy inversion and clouds of fog.
"Obviously there's an inversion here in the winter, just something you have to deal with," said Edens, "today's it's especially foggy, nobody likes it when you can't see our beautiful Wasatch mountains."
Edens recalls many times in the past when he had to drive through dense fog just to get to work.
"It's just something you have to deal with, visibility is not as great," he said. "You can just see a few cars in front of you, so not only do you need to be careful about those in front of you, but also keep in mind the people behind you."
The Salt Lake City office of the National Weather Service forecasts the poor air quality to remain in place through Tuesday, with possible relief coming mid-week. Until then, groups sensitive to poor air should remain alert.
Those who are affected by the thick air should reduce prolonged time outdoors and participate in less intense activities.
