Utah News

The Professional Explanation

For Marty Booth, a meteorologist for the Utah Climate Center, the current air in Utah is an issue.  

"I bike every day to work. I've been affected by it already."

Particulate matter, also known as particle pollution, is a complex mixture of extremely small dust and soot particles. Due to a combination of wind and fires in Nevada and Idaho Utah is experiencing spiking levels of PM2.5 as well as ozone.

"We're now moving into this pattern here where we have a high pressure system moving over the top of us. It's locking in the smoke that's been blowing in from the west-northwest over  the past few days. We are getting some of the PM2.5 or some of the soot you see in the air from fires, but the strong bad air quality you're seeing is not necessarily due to just the smoke."

Kerry Bringhurst's extended interview with Ed Kociela about his new book, plygs, a fact-based novel based on his 17-year career as a Southern Utah journalist.

The blaze known as the Reserve Fire burning on the Red Cliffs Wilderness Reserve north of St. George began on Monday and quickly grew to over 3,000 acres. That fire is now 50% contained.

Although there are no longer any structures threatened by the blaze, 2 popular hiking trails remain closed as interagency fire crews to battle both on the ground and from overhead.

The Little Pine fire burning near Enterprise has been fully contained after blackening over 2,000 acres and closing access to Enterprise Reservoir and its popular campgrounds.

Hummingbird researchers in St. George are gathering data as the birds are beginning their seasonal migration.

Ned Batchelder is visiting about 15 volunteers' yards, trapping and putting tiny leg bands on hummingbirds. He says this project will help track hummingbird migration patterns.

"For the month of August you've got this mass of birds migrating down the Rocky Mt corridor. There's about a 15-day window where we can set up and band 50 - 100 birds easily in one day."

More pieces are being put into place for Salt Lake City’s new Performing Arts Center.  Yesterday City officials announced who will be designing and building the $110 million dollar project. HKS Architects, a local firm,  along with Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects beat out 14 other bidders to design the future theater which will sit on Main Street. Michael Vela, managing principal with HKS says it’s still too early to tell what the theater could look like.

Nearly $100 million in federal grant money has recently been made available to states. How will Utah use this money and how will it help our job market?

Under the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act, states have been attempting programs that will give employers an alternative to lay-offs. The U.S. Department of Labor recently announced a grant that is intended to aid states in the implementation of one of those programs.

From The Standard Examiner -- The air along the Wasatch Front has taken on a golden glow that looks pretty, but there’s nothing magical about the particulate matter and ozone readings behind it.

That glow is from wildfires raging in Idaho, Nevada and even Washington state. The National Weather Service says neither the fires nor the bad air is going away anytime soon.

The Utah Division of Air Quality says levels of particulate matter in the air haven’t reached dangerous levels yet, but they are high enough that people with lung problems, the elderly and infants should be careful and avoid outdoor exertion.