As Liz Gatterer drove with her two children from Spring Hill to Nashville on Sunday, she could see the haze as she neared the city.
And as she approached the exit for Bicentennial Capitol Mall, she saw a sign that read "Today: Air quality alert. Reduce trips."
I got kind of scared when I saw the air quality sign," Gatterer said.
The dog days of summer probably will stay for another two weeks, causing doctors to advise even healthy people to avoid strenuous outdoor activity.
How hot is it?
The National Weather Service in Nashville recorded the hottest day of the summer Sunday at 99 degrees, and meteorologists predict temperatures could reach 100 by the end of the workweek — with no break in the forecast.
What makes it even more hazardous is the pollution from fine particles trapped in the stagnant air hanging over the Midstate, said Laura Artates, chairwoman of the Clean Air Partnership of Middle Tennessee, a public-private advocacy group.
"Everything has just been building up," she said. "There is no chance for the particles to blow out or get diluted."
Artates said the particle pollution causes even the healthiest person to complain of irritated eyes and sinuses and sore throats.
To clear the air, "we would need a low pressure front or some sort of storm pattern," she said.
Quick afternoon thunderstorms won't do the trick.
"We need a storm system that would help mix air from top to bottom as well as move the air from where it is sitting right above us," Artates said.
The National Weather Service predicts it could be the end of August before that happens.
Pollutants can clog lungs
In recent days, the Environmental Protection Agency has listed Nashville's air quality as worse than Los Angeles' and Houston's — "unhealthy for sensitive groups."
While the heat may make that worse, Dr. Robert Hutton, chief of emergency medicine at Baptist Hospital, said he thinks it might have the opposite effect.
"It's surprising" that more people haven't come to the emergency room with breathing problems, "but I think the heat is keeping people out of the bad air," he said.
Hutton said that, while children with asthma and those with chronic respiratory conditions are most susceptible to the polluted air, "even the healthiest athletes" are in danger when the air quality is so poor.
"Athletes think they are immune, but if those little particles of pollutants plug up the tiny airways in your lungs, these particles, depending on their size, can get stuck, and the body doesn't have a good way of removing them."
Reduce gas-engine use
The Clean Air Partnership advises cutting back use of gasoline engines — cars, lawn mowers and boats.
"The biggest impact is the number of cars and how far people drive," Artates said. "Cars are the biggest source of pollution.
"Anything we are (putting) into the air right now is sticking and creating more of a health problem until this weather pattern breaks."
And there are those who have no place to get out of the heat and bad air.
The Nashville Rescue Mission, a downtown homeless shelter, will deliver water in its four "hot patrol" vans. The shelter also will keep its day room open and provide barrels of ice water there.
"The weather just sneaks up on you," said Cliff Tredway, director of public relations and marketing at the mission. "Especially the heat."
