AUSTIN (KXAN) -- The haze has returned to our beautiful azure blue Central Texas sky. Why? There's a simple explanation.
This is the season for agricultural burning in Mexico. This "burning season" for our southern neighbors occurs during Mexico's dry season, which is essentially from the middle of March until May. The wet season in Mexico begins in June.
This is the time when the farmers clear the land of unwanted vegetation, allowing for nutrients to return to their soils. This burning of the land also serves to help increase crops and grasses for the pastures.
But this comes at a price to us here in Central Texas. When the wind comes out of the north, the area won't see any of this smoke. When the area's winds are coming out of the south, it allows for this smoke to easily come across the border to affect our sky.
The smoke causes deteriorating air quality. It's not just ozone that causes poor air quality, but fine particulate matter, too. It has been mentioned many times in interviews with air quality experts, including the Clean Air Force of Central Texas, that fine particulate matter, or PM2.5, is very small. It's smaller than a hair follicle. The diminutive size of this, as it is airborne, allows it to travel deep into a person's respiratory tract, reaching the lungs.
So, for as long as this seasonal agriculture burning continues, and in conjunction with a prevailing south wind, the air quality will likely stay at moderate levels while also contributing to that hazy sky.
Another factor is at play as it pertains to this springtime haze. Did you know that the high humidity also contributes to the haze? Humid days with sunshine make it easier for the sky to keep the fine particulate matter hovering in our area. The increased moisture will hold this fine particulate matter for days.
Wildfires can cause a hazy sky. The smoke from wildfires is made up of "a mixture of gaseous pollutants" like carbon monoxide, along with water vapor, and that same particle pollution. It's the particle pollution that, according to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, is the main 'ingredient" of wildfire smoke as well as the main public health threat.
It's on days like the area saw on Friday, March 16, where it's suggested that those with asthma, seasonal allergies, and other respiratory issues limit their outdoor activities.
Those with these kinds of issues go from such short-term effects as coughing, sneezing, and shortness of breath to long-term effects far more serious, including an increased risk of heart and lung issues.
So, what's creating this haze? A south wind is blowing fine particulate matter from the agricultural burning in Mexico, along with the higher humidity.
But just as the burning season ends, another season begins.
We're not too far away from still another factor that will make the sky hazy, and that is the dust that blows across the Atlantic, Caribbean, and Gulf from Africa. The Saharan Dust Layer begins to arrive in the middle of June. It lingers on and off until the middle of August.
We'll address that when it gets here.
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