Milwaukee, Waukesha Air Especially Dirty Today

Yeah, southeastern Wisconsin's air quality sure is meeting the high standards that some of our political and business leaders have claimed.

Oops:

This today from the DNR:

"The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources is issuing an Air Quality Advisory for Ozone (Orange) for Milwaukee and Waukesha counties effective 2:00 pm on Tuesday, March 11, 2008 through noon on Wednesday, March 12, 2008 .

"The advisory is being issued because of persistent elevated levels of ground level ozone. Ground level ozone is formed when pollution from power plants, factories and other industrial sources, vehicle exhaust, and volatile organic compounds chemically reacts with hot temperatures, high humidity and atmospheric stagnation.

"The Air Quality Index is currently in the orange level, which is considered unhealthy for people in sensitive groups and others, including people who are not in sensitive groups but who are engaged in strenuous outside activities or exposed for prolonged periods of time.

'People in those sensitive groups include those with respiratory diseases, such as asthma, older adults, and active adults and children. When an orange advisory for ozone is issued, people in those groups are advised to reschedule or cut back on strenuous outside activities."

The DNR issued a separate warning about particulate matter risks, but it had an error in the date.

More on that later if need be.