What the hell is an “ozone warning?”

You have a TV station that reports temperature and rain, but the biggie now is called "ozone," and you don't even mention it like you do [an] allergy [alert].

The EPA website has Green /good thru yellow, orange, red and purple air-quality indexes — for what? They do not tell you what they are measuring. Is it dog or cat hair? Carbon dioxide? Sulfate dioxide? What the hell is ozone in the troposphere or stratosphere?

If this is newsworthy for the [Asheville Citizen-Times], why can't [the TV weather] report on ozone?

It is about as stupid as [the fact that] we have to go to South Carolina to buy fireworks. The city of Asheville can't even turn off the street lights so we can [see] the fireworks, and then the microphone in the city park band stand could not even tell us that there was going to be a delay on the fireworks display because of a fire, [so] many people went home…

Shape up or ship out!

— Edward Sunderhaus
Asheville

SHARE

Thanks for reading through to the end…

We share your inclination to get the whole story. For the past 25 years, Xpress has been committed to in-depth, balanced reporting about the greater Asheville area. We want everyone to have access to our stories. That’s a big part of why we've never charged for the paper or put up a paywall.

We’re pretty sure that you know journalism faces big challenges these days. Advertising no longer pays the whole cost. Media outlets around the country are asking their readers to chip in. Xpress needs help, too. We hope you’ll consider signing up to be a member of Xpress. For as little as $5 a month — the cost of a craft beer or kombucha — you can help keep local journalism strong. It only takes a moment.

About Webmaster
Mountain Xpress Webmaster Follow me @MXWebTeam

Before you comment

The comments section is here to provide a platform for civil dialogue on the issues we face together as a local community. Xpress is committed to offering this platform for all voices, but when the tone of the discussion gets nasty or strays off topic, we believe many people choose not to participate. Xpress editors are determined to moderate comments to ensure a constructive interchange is maintained. All comments judged not to be in keeping with the spirit of civil discourse will be removed and repeat violators will be banned. See here for our terms of service. Thank you for being part of this effort to promote respectful discussion.

4 thoughts on “What the hell is an “ozone warning?”

  1. It’s my understanding that knowing the levels of ozone in the air is indeed important. Ozone is good far away from us up high. We need a protective ozone layer above the earth. what we read in the paper is about the lower levels of ozone, which results from hot bright sunlight interacting with certain chemicals in the air, like nitrogen oxide. When the heat and the chemicals interact you have ozone, a dangerous element that is harmful for people with heart and lung problems, the elderly and small children, especially those with allergies. Even healthy athletes must pay attention to high ozone days because when they work out in such a toxic mix, minute particles are breathed deep into their lungs that could prove harmful even for the healthiest of persons. Paying attention to ozone levels is probably more important than most of the small talk you hear on weather reports.

  2. travelah

    What to hael? Did you pause to think that maybe you should find out what it is before writng this silly letter? Next time there is a high ozone alert, please step outside and breath deeply for a few hours. The gene pool of the human species might improve.

    (please don’t take my advice)

  3. dpewen

    Good one travelah … what a crazy letter … apparently the writer does not know how to use google … or their brain!

Leave a Reply

To leave a reply you may Login with your Mountain Xpress account, connect socially or enter your name and e-mail. Your e-mail address will not be published. All fields are required.