TULSA, Okla. — As Tulsans turned in for bed on April 5, they may have felt more groggy than usual. That’s because they breathed was considered unhealthy. Thanks to the wind. It is right there in the state song: Where the wind comes sweeping down the plan.
"That’s why my eyes are all puffy right now," Tulsan Lacey Rogers said.
Across Green Country, a noticeable stench of smoke permeated the air. That smoke hung around through April 5 after Oklahoma's forceful winds blew it all across the state.
"You can still see in my eyes how it’s affecting everything. My lungs, my eyes, everything," Rogers said.
2 News Oklahoma Chief Meteorologist Michael Seger explained the process.
"The smoke just won’t escape up into the atmosphere so the wind pushes it along and increases the pollution downstream from that wind," Seger said.
The wind did Tulsa some good too, as it blew the remaining smoke out of town by the afternoon of April 5, sending the Air Quality Index (AQI) down to modest levels.
Poor air quality can cause runny noses, sinus congestion, headaches, and sneezing—all the usual suspects of allergies. So too can ozone days.
"Both [ozone and AQI days] equal unhealthy air quality, but what may cause that is different," Seger said.
Ozone days are caused by a low layer trapping pollutants, while poor air quality days are caused by the wind whipping pollutants around.
Lacey Rogers noticed the sheer power of Oklahoma's wind.
"Yeah, and it got thick very quickly. Which was really surprising," Rogers said, "I didn’t see it, and then I turned around, and all the sudden it was there."
In the late evening hours of April 5, the air quality index had dropped down to 60, nearly 100 points down from its high point.
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