Smog Adds Misery to Southland Heat Wave

Southern California coughed, choked and wheezed under a thick blanket of smog Monday as the seventh day of a heat wave kept temperatures in the high 90s and low 100s in most inland cities.

Officials of the South Coast Air Quality Management District said the levels of ozone, carbon monoxide and other pollutants reached the “unhealthful” range in the San Gabriel Valley and most other sectors of the Southland by Monday afternoon. Only the beaches escaped the dirty air.

At the Eugene Field Elementary School in Pasadena, the thick smog arrived just in time to greet students on their first day back from summer vacation. Office manager Pam Sunada offered a succinct weather report:

“It’s smoggy and terrible,” she said as she registered students. “And humid and hot.”

Of course, Southern California air quality traditionally is poor in late August and early September. Monday followed the usual pattern for smoggy weather: a high-pressure system and stagnant air trapping pollutants throughout most of the Los Angeles Basin, said Steve Burback, meteorologist for WeatherData Inc., which provides forecasts for The Times.

The heat wave is expected to continue through the rest of the week, Burback said. And the thick smog may stick around a little longer.

“The only way you might get some relief is with a good intrusion of that marine air,” Burback said. “Better yet would be a cold front coming in from the north to bring some strong winds. But there’s no sign of that happening till the end of the month.”

From his office at the Griffith Observatory, Earl VanderWall could see the peaks of Santa Catalina Island, the upper floors of the First Interstate World Center in Downtown Los Angeles and Mt. Baldy--all rising just above the murky brown inversion layer holding the contaminants over the city below.

But, he added: “I can’t see the area by Monterey Park. It’s been obliterated by the smog.”

Down in the suffering lowlands of central Los Angeles, those with the misfortune of working outdoors agreed the air pollution made all the minor irritations of life seem even worse.

Maria Guadalupe Montelongo and her sister, Evangelina, sell newspapers and magazines on a Main Street intersection. The smog and heat, they said, only added to the discomfort caused by passing garbage trucks and RTD buses.

“My eyes hurt, I’m coughing and I have a headache,” said Maria Guadalupe, 28.

Evangelina, 29, added: “This is really bad now that I’m pregnant. . . . I feel nauseous.”

Temperatures at the Los Angeles Civic Center have risen above 90 degrees every day since last Tuesday, Burback said. The high Monday was 95. The hottest day of the heat wave was Sunday, when the mercury hit 99.

Although AQMD officials said they had not yet declared any smog alerts in the South Coast district by late Monday, they cautioned that air was still unhealthful in most places.

“Anyone who is especially sensitive to the harmful effects of air pollution should curtail their activities until later in the day,” said Claudia Keith, an AQMD spokeswoman. “They should wait until later in the day when the sun goes down and it’s cooler, or try early in the morning.”