Staff Reports
Emissions in the state of Florida are the lowest on record, according to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), despite seasonal impacts from Saharan dust and wildfires.
On Oct. 13, for example, the DEP website noted good air quality in every region it monitors, from the Panhandle to South Florida. The DEP measures the Air Quality Index, with levels 0-50 being good, 51-100 as moderate and 101-150 as unhealthy.
Throughout the year, air quality in the state has consistently met hourly air quality standards and only occasionally exceeded daily standards, according to monthly monitoring reports on the DEP’s air quality reporting web page.
Despite Florida’s overall good air quality, the state experienced significant impacts from Saharan dust this past summer.
NASA issued a Saharan dust advisory in July, stating that for much of the month, “easterly winds have carried large plumes of Saharan dust over the Atlantic Ocean. At times, dust in the Saharan Air Layer has traveled as far as the Caribbean, Texas, and Florida. In South Florida, meteorologists linked the incoming dust to hazy skies, striking sunsets, and reduced rainfall.”
Saharan dust can cause complications for those with underlying respiratory issues including asthma, allergies and pulmonary disease. Paul Kalamaras, a member of the American Meteorologist Society and Department of Health alum, said that dust is one of the primary drivers of poor air quality, along with wildfires and automobile traffic.
Saharan dust levels dropped in September and early October. While that’s good news for air quality, it also created more favorable conditions for tropical systems, which may have contributed to Hurricane Ian’s fast strengthening.
The state also faced potential issues with air quality in September, when local health officials issued health warnings pertaining to a mulch fire in St. Lucie County.
“The closer you get to the fire, the higher and higher those levels go,” Pulmonologist Mark Pamer said at the time. “Levels under 12 are pretty healthy. Yesterday we were at 55.”
The DEP’s air monitoring efforts include its “My Air Quality” interactive map that displays air quality levels across the state in real time. They also offer tools to compare air quality around the globe, a partner toolkit with resources to help increase air quality, educator resources and videos and facts about air quality in Florida.
Sugarcane farmers in South Florida burn their crops prior to harvest from October to late May, which has prompted concerns from some in South Florida. However, data from the DEP shows above-average air quality year-round in the Glades.
That’s due to the nature of those controlled burns, Kalamaras said.
“Those burns that they do are rather quick in nature, 10-15 minutes,” he explained. “That has to be taken care of in a certain manner to make sure that they don’t impact anything, to make sure that the weather conditions — the winds and all that — are favorable.”
The Belle Glade showed consistent readings well below EPA standard — 35 micrograms per cubic meter of air (µg/m3) — during the cane burning harvest season. Additionally, in comparison to air quality in coastal regions such as Royal Palm Beach and Delray Beach, Belle Glade showed similar or better readings based on monthly averages according to DEP data.
Kalamaras explained that farmers must get permits from the state before conducting those burns “to make sure the conditions are right.” That contrasts with the unpredictability of wildfires, which pose a bigger threat to air quality.
“Wildfires can happen in a big area, and of course they’re not controlled burns.,” Kalamaras said. “But the sugarcane burning is very fast and short duration, and is done in scattered pockets depending on the wind direction.”
“It’s a grassy material,” he added. “It’s not like wildfires, where the wood or trees are burning, which have a bigger impact for particulate matter for an area like the Glades.”
