State monitors picked up smoggy air in eastern and central Iowa Thursday. Brian Button is with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources Air Quality Bureau. The smog was detected north and northeast of Clinton and also in the Warren County area near Indianola. Button says the smog doesn’t compare to what you might find in a large city like Los Angeles, but he says it’s still a concern.He says groups sensative to smog such as kids, the elderly or people who’re asthmatics may have trouble. Button says the smog is caused by a variety of emmissions from cars, factories and other sources.Button says the warm temperatures help cook all the emmissions into smog or what is scientifically called “low level ozone.” Button says people in the affected area can reduce smog by putting off car trips, lawn mowing and the use of oil based paints until late in the day or evening. State air monitors detected smog in Northern Linn, Jones, Buchanan and Delaware counties on April 30th — the earliest the unhealthy air had ever been detected in Iowa.
