PERRYVILLE – The Southeast Missouri Regional Planning Commission has passed alone the latest ozone readings through July 17th.
Since the last update in early June, there have been significant increases in the high readings for the year.
State wide there were nine exceedances in ozone readings between the St. Louis and Kansas City areas. This brings the total for the season in the state to 12 so far this season.
On the Bonne Terre monitor, looking at the four highest readings for the season, the second highest on June 5th is now the fourth highest, with the first highest reading hitting the 70 ppb limit for air quality. The Farrar monitor saw a change in all four of the highest readings for the same time frame with the highest reading at 69 ppb.
According to the Air Quality Index, the region experienced over half of the month in the yellow or “Moderate” range.
One or both of the monitors had readings in that range on 17 different days, some very close to the orange “Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups” range.
The air quality indexes for July are starting out better, but there have already seen some yellow quality days.
The ozone report and AQI calendars are attached for your review.