The hazy horizons visible around Las Vegas are clear indicators of reduced air quality, so Channel 13 took the questions about what exactly residents are breathing to Clark County—which monitors 18 AQI stations in the area.

Las Vegas

Las Vegas has seen a noticeable decline in air quality, as haze blankets the valley and raises concerns among residents. Clark County operates 18 air monitoring stations that track pollutants such as ozone, nitrogen oxide, and particulate matter, which are especially prevalent during periods of stagnant weather.

Local officials note that the region's geography and climate can trap pollutants, leading to higher ozone levels. Residents are encouraged to check real-time air quality using the EPA's Air Now app and consider using N95 masks, which can filter out most small particulates, particularly during wildfire season.

Las Vegas air quality concerns rise as haze blankets the valley

The hazy horizons in Las Vegas are a clear indicator of reduced air quality, but what exactly is in our airwaves? Well, I came to one of Clark County's air monitoring stations to find out. We have 18 of these all throughout Clark County. Inside this one-car garage-sized building near Jerome Mack Middle School are all the bells and whistles that come with monitoring air quality. And we have several instruments here that you can see all these racks of instruments that help us to analyze air quality. And that helps synthesize the data that funnels back into our systems. Clark County's Kevin McDonald telling me that to the second, the complex system analyzes how much of any pollutant is in the air at a time. That includes ozone, nitrogen oxide, and particulate matter, which is how wildfire smoke is measured. The smaller the particulate matter, the deeper in your lungs it can be inhaled. So we measure those two sizes according to federal regulation. If it's blowing this way, that means we're receiving secondhand smoke, so to speak. For locals like Brian Perry, it's something he's noticed has worsened in recent days. I see it where I live, Centennial Hills, in the morning. You see this cloud that hovers over because we're in a valley, obviously. So why is it so bad this time of year? Well, it typically comes down to the patterns of high pressure that sit overtop our region. One of the big issues is if we don't have a lot of wind, all those pollutants that help produce ozone, they sit here and cook. The one thing we talk about in Clark County is it's a perfect oven to cook ozone because of our geography, our topography, and our climate. If you want to keep track of air quality in your neighborhood, there's an easy option right at your fingertips. We have what's called the Air Now app, and it's an EPA app, but that's our data there. They'll give you real-time air quality information wherever you are. So this right now is where I'm located, so the air quality is at 97 AQI, which is pretty high. Now, if you are a sensitive individual, here's a piece of equipment that might be familiar to you. This is the N95 mask. We learned a lot about these during COVID, but they can filter out about 95% of small matter, so also a very good tool for wildfire season. Reporting in Las Vegas, I'm Geneva Zoltek.

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