An air quality action day was declared for today for East Central Indiana, including Delaware County.
A combination of high temperatures, light winds and other factors are expected to produce conditions where high levels of ozone emissions "may exceed federally mandated standards," according to the National Weather Service.
Although air quality action days are common in this area, they usually are issued during the Summer, the NWS said.
"It is not usual this early in the year, but the days have been warmer than normal at this time of the year," the NWS said.
Forecasts of this type are made when it is believed the ozone levels will go up to a point where it is unhealthy for sensitive groups, these including children, the elderly and people with heart or lung conditions, public information officer Robert Elstro said.
"We want people to take action. We encourage them that if they are going to do an outdoor activity to stay inside and wait until the levels of ozone go down," he said.
People with heart or lung conditions are encouraged to look for information and sign up for forecasts at www.airnow.gov and www.smogwatch.in.gov
Although the air quality is improving each year in Indiana and all 92 counties in the state are meeting air quality standards, high levels of ozone most of the time depend on the weather Elstro said.
Some recommended actions that the public can take to reduce ozone forming emissions are:
Riding the bus instead of driving your car
Car-pool with friends
Reducing the amount of time spent in drive through lanes
Postponing to fill your gas tank until after dark
Putting off mowing the lawn until after 6 p.m.
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