The latest ozone alert for Oklahoma featured more counties and an area reaching southward to the state line.
The Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality updated the Thursday ozone alert by adding several more counties to the Oklahoma City alert.
It issued yet another expanded alert to include most of southern Oklahoma stretching from Kingfisher and Guthrie in the north south to Lawton, Duncan, Ardmore, Marietta, McAlester, Tishomingo and Durant.
The additional alert came as temperatures were expected to bounce back to 99 in the central part of the state and up to 107 or more in the southwest.
Friday will also be an ozone alert day in the central part of the state as the DEQ declared late Thursday.
This ozone alert is a prediction that concentrations of ozone will approach levels of concern over the next 24 hours. Sensitive individuals should plan accordingly. When these levels are reached, an Air Quality Health Advisory will be issued. Health Advisories are notifications that levels of ozone have reached unhealthy levels. They are based on near real time monitoring values.
Persons with lung or heart disease should be aware that increased pollution may cause them to experience adverse health effects. Ozone affects people differently. Unhealthy levels of ozone can cause throat irritation, coughing, chest pain, shortness of breath, increased susceptibility to respiratory infection and aggravation of asthma and other respiratory ailments.
