On hot summer days, pollution from cars and other gas-powered engines can create unhealthy smog in the Vancouver-Portland region. The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality and the Southwest Clean Air Agency issue an Air Pollution Advisory through local media the afternoon before a forecasted bad air pollution day (which is a day that is above 90 degrees with little or no wind).

When you find out about an advisory, you can help prevent high levels of smog by taking actions that will reduce air pollution. Advisories are issued an average of five days during the summer.

Smog is harmful to all lungs and especially to young children, older people and individuals with chronic lung problems like asthma.

Plan Ahead

Be ready to do something on an Air Pollution Advisory Day to prevent unhealthy air pollution, particularly when very hot weather lasts for several days in a row.

• Know which Tri-Met MAX ,bus or C-Tran bus can get you to work or another destination. Call Tri-Met at 503-238-RIDE(7433) or C-Tran at 360-695-0123 for route and schedule information
• Plan to carpool with a co-worker or neighbor on an Air Pollution Advisory day.

If you make a plan now, when you hear an Air Pollution Advisory, you’ll know what to do. And the air will be cleaner for all of us!

Ten Ways to Prevent Smog:

• Drive less. (Cars are the number 1 source of air pollution.)
• Take the Tri-Met MAX or bus or C-Tran bus. 
• Carpool, walk, or bike.
• Put off errands that require driving or combine errands to make fewer trips.
• Don’t drive at lunchtime. Eat in.
• Don’t mow your lawn with a gas-powered lawn mower. (A lawn mower can pollute as much or more than a car.)
• Telecommute (work at home) if that’s an option for you.
• Use alternatives to aerosol sprays.
• Avoid using house paint or use low solvent paint.

For more information about the Air Pollution Advisory program, you can contact Kathy Finkle by
e-mail: or by phone at 360-574-3058, ext. 39.