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News Release

For immediate release
July 24, 2003

Notice of Smog Advisory

Today, the Ontario Ministry of the Environment issued a Smog Advisory for tomorrow, July 25, 2003 until further notice for the following forecast regions:

Brant-Haldimand-Norfolk	Sarnia-Lambton
Elgin	Windsor-Essex-Chatham-Kent
London-Middlesex-Oxford

A Smog Advisory is issued when there is a high probability for elevated smog levels the next day.

For tomorrow, Friday, air quality indices are expected to reach the poor category in southwestern Ontario due to very warm temperatures, bright sunshine and increasing winds from the southwest. This weather pattern allows pollutants from the U.S. and Ontario to be turned into photochemical smog.

Smog is a hazy mix of pollutants made up of ground-level ozone, fine particulate matter and other pollutants. During the summer months, more-than half of Ontario’s smog-causing pollution originates in the United States. In cooler months, domestic sources can be significant contributors to the formation of fine particulate matter.

Ontario has one of Canada’s best air quality monitoring systems. The ministry issues Smog Advisory and Smog Watch notices in order to provide the people of Ontario with the information they need to protect themselves from the potential health effects of smog.

The Web site www.airqualityontario.com contains a list of “spare the air” actions (www.airqualityontario.com/science/spareair.cfm) to help combat smog and minimize its effect on sensitive populations. If you want to learn more about air quality, visit the Ministry of the Environment’s Web site at www.ene.gov.on.ca. 

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Contact:
John Steele
Communications Branch
Ministry of the Environment
(416) 314-6666