Together with the coldest thermometer reading, Tuesday, January 17 saw the year’s worst day for air pollution in Guadalajara, with the state environment agency (Semadet) issuing four pre-contingency smog warnings (precontingencias atmosféricas) for different zones of the metropolitan area.
The measures were taken after the air quality monitoring stations in Miravalle, Tlaquepaque, Las Pintas and Loma Dorada recorded contamination levels for a period of one hour or more of between 100 and 150 PM10s, or particles less than 10 micrometers in diameter.
These readings fall into the “Mala” (poor) air quality category in Semadet’s five-tier, color classification system, but not bad enough to activate a phase one alert. The other categories are Buena (good), Aceptable (fair), Muy Mala (very poor) and Extremamente Mala (extremely poor).
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