Air Quality Alert in Effect Saturday

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An Air Quality Alert is in effect Saturday for parts of North Texas, including all of the DFW metro area. Potentially high levels of ozone could develop and lead to an unhealthy situation for those people with respiratory ailments.

Ozone is actually helpful in blocking unhealthy ultraviolet rays from the sun, as long as the ozone is located in the upper atmosphere.

However, when chemical reactions occur among pollutants near the ground level, ozone is formed. When ozone develops near ground level, it is an unhealthy pollutant that can cause problems for people with breathing difficulties.

The weather conditions that are responsible for the increased threat of ozone are sunshine and light winds. The lack of wind keeps the pollutants from being dispersed. The winds will increase on Sunday decreasing the threat of ozone pollution.