It’s the time of year when winter weather can trap pollution in some Interior Alaska communities. In mid-November, the Alaska Division of Environmental Conservation began issuing air quality alerts for Fairbanks and the nearby community of North Pole.
National Weather Service meteorologist Bobby Bianco said snowfall over the weekend should keep the bad air at bay for a few days. But temperature inversions closer to Thanksgiving are likely to bring more alerts.
“We're most likely going to be keeping an inversion that's going to be pretty strong around the area,” Bianco said. “And we'll notice that the air quality is gonna be getting a little bit worse.”
Bianco said northern Interior communities located in valleys — like Fairbanks, North Pole, Healy, Fort Yukon, and Circle — can expect the worst of it, and that the pollution hanging over those areas generally comes from wood stoves, coal-fired power plants and car exhaust.
“It literally just cannot leave the atmosphere above a few hundred feet,” Bianco said. “Unless we get something like clouds overhead, which can warm up our temperatures and therefore allow the atmosphere to mix higher up.”
According to the National Institute of Health, this kind of weather can have long term health consequences.
T.J. Brado, a state environmental program manager, said Interior residents should be mindful of the air quality before going outside to enjoy the dwindling winter sunshine.
“We always have our near-real time data that's posted on our website,” he said. “We encourage people to watch the air quality index to see when air quality is safe, and when are the best times to be outside and enjoying the good, clear, fresh air.”