The year’s first orange ozone alert has been issued for Saturday, July 25.
The alert means that an unhealthy level of ground-level ozone, also known as smog, is expected Saturday in the Kansas City area.
Residents are advised that ozone pollution can cause a variety of problems in healthy adults, including chest pains, coughing, nausea, throat irritation and difficulty breathing.
Those who are sensitive to air pollution, including children, seniors and people with breathing or heart problems, should limit their exposure to outdoor air between 10 a.m. and 7 p.m. Saturday. Consider scheduling activities before 10 a.m. and after 7 p.m.
Residents are asked to reduce pollution by reducing their driving, not mowing the lawn from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., not grilling outdoors, carpooling, taking the bus and postponing refueling vehicles.
Fares for regular bus routes are reduced on Ozone Alert days.
The Mid-America Regional Council Air Quality Program issues the skycasts every day. The skycasts can be found at www.marc.org/Environment/Air-Quality/SkyCast/About.