Is smog that bad? (Los Angeles: versus, moving, air pollution)

[PotatoGuy]

I don't think smog is THAT bad.. sure it reduces your life a little.. but you don't notice it 93% of the time..

[hanna_house]

When I visited LA a few years ago I couldn't believe the smog. It was much worse than I had comprehended so it came as quite a shock. Even when it was sunny it was blurry looking. Not very pretty unless you're hanging out near the coast.

[Rafter]

When we relocated, we tried Burbank the first six mos. (a site like such would
have helped alot), I noticed a sort of greasy film on our auto. Unlike the dust & dirt, you have to scrub a little to get it off. When I inquired what it was, I
was told it was a build up of the settling smog. Also my boys had some frequent nose bleeds for no reason other than the inpurities in the air.

[rebagirl]

Note to Potato Guy: The American Lung Association just released their report, and L.A., Long Beach, and Riverside counties ranked worst in the nation by a long shot. As mentioned in my previous post, please check out www.lungusa.org. Type in your zip code (in a small box--a little hard to find at first) and you will get a report on the air in your county. Then do another one for Monterey, CA or a place out of state, such as Denver, CO, Austin, TX--just about anywhere. Rather than look only at the letter grade, look specifically at the number of ozone and particle pollution days per year. You will undoubtedly be shocked.

[CaliBoy]

It's certainly not like it was in the seventies when you could actually see sunset colors in the mid-afternoons. And the best way to know which stage of an alert we were in was by simply inhaling and time how long the throat pain would last. Yup, that was the seventies.

And this is now.

It's GREATLY improved and it's not bad. Summer is worst on hot days. And the haziness that most people THINK is fog, is really overcast from the marine layer. But smog exists. It settles in the valleys. And allergies can be a problem (living in OC, I never had allergies -- L.A. = allergies).

No matter, the air can always be improved and we are not there yet. But it's not as bad as it once was -- the reputation still lingers, however.

[Rolian]

I moved from overseas to San Bernardino in August of 1979, and did not actually know the area previously.

My first week I spent getting settled in with appartment hunting and school registration all the while living under this peculiar undefinable white hazy sky.

In the second week a Santa Ana wind came thru the night, and to my shock the next morning there was this fantastic mountain skyline right in front of me! Beautiful, yet bizarre in its sudden and unexpected appearance.

Yes living there was like being in a kind of super-heated translucent glass dome.
I have long since moved onward but do pass thru the area every couple of years in the winter when the scenery it quite nice.


j Imagine

[Eugguy]

It's not that bad. L.A. has been having very clean air lately. Still has a way to go but they're on the right track!

[rebagirl]

Ignorance is bliss--once again. Apparently no one on this site cares to look for themselves at the ozone and particle pollution levels in CA. If you don't know what I'm talking about, refer to my two previous posts. I agree that it's not as bad as it was in the 70's and 80's, but it's still disgusting. When I can't see the nearby mountains at all, it's obvious there is a problem. And days like this are the majority unfortunately. Now go check out the sites I mentioned previously, and I'll stop bugging you all. The facts are there!

[Brisuh]

I lived in Los Angeles county for a long time and I really can't tell smogs hurting my lungs. I do see orange-purplish lines of smog in the sky during summer days but I really don't feel any other symptoms on my body.

[fastfilm]

Except for before and after the winter seasonal rains, or right next to the coast, the skies of Los Angeles are, in the words of a local writer, not blue at all but nougat-colored.

When L.A. citizens leave L.A. they indeed notice how much easier it is to breathe, and how constricted their lung intake is as a matter of self-preservation. Many doctors liken living in L.A. (away from the coasts) as the equivalent of smoking one pack of ciagarettes a day as far as respiratory damage goes.