A wave of ground-level ozone alerts is set to blanket the Southeast on Friday, as a stagnant, sun-drenched air mass pushes smog toward unhealthy levels from metro Atlanta through the Carolina Piedmont and South Carolina’s Upstate.
A Multi-State Patchwork of Alerts
Environmental agencies in three states issued Code Orange Air Quality Action Days for ozone, most of them in force Friday, June 5. A Code Orange means air quality is expected to be Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups — an Air Quality Index between 101 and 150.
In Georgia, the state Department of Natural Resources’ Environmental Protection Division flagged metro Atlanta for Friday. In North Carolina, alerts cover the Charlotte area — Mecklenburg, Cabarrus and Rowan counties — along with the Triad around Winston-Salem, Greensboro and High Point, plus Davie, Stokes, Rockingham and Caswell counties, issued by the North Carolina Division of Air Quality and Forsyth County environmental officials.
In South Carolina, the Department of Environmental Services called a Code Orange for the Upstate, including Greenville, Spartanburg and Anderson, from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday.
Why the Air Turns Unhealthy
Ground-level ozone — the main ingredient in summer smog — is not emitted directly from any tailpipe or smokestack. It forms when sunlight cooks a chemical reaction between nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds released by vehicles, power plants and industry. Hot, bright, stagnant days are the trigger…