Does the Topography of Las Vegas Aid in Minimizing Air Pollution?

Does the topography surrounding metro Las Vegas aid in minimizing air pollution?

Actually, it's pretty much the opposite.

Topography refers in general to land forms and features, both natural and manmade, of a particular area. Thus, topographic maps depict elevations, rivers, lakes, and geographical names, together with roads, railways, power transmission lines, and the like. Topo maps also have contour lines that show how the elevation of the landscape changes.

For this answer, we consulted with Kevin J. MacDonald, public information administrator for the Clark County Department of Environment & Sustainability. “It’s actually a very good question,” he says. "Because one thing we like to say about Las Vegas and Clark County, especially with ozone, but also with other pollutants, is that our geography, topography, and climate are the determining factors."

Pollutants blow in from the west, meaning southern California and even as far as Asia, McDonald explains. "Las Vegas is surrounded by so many mountains that it kind of creates this bowl effect." When the pollutants settle in, if the weather patterns aren’t moving them out, "it creates this perfect oven" that cooks the air and builds up ozone. "So yeah, topography is definitely a factor in it."

McDonald further qualifies, “It really depends on weather patterns. One part of this equation isn't more or less important than the other. Winds push pollutants out and keep the ozone down. However, if we get too much wind, we get dust from within Clark County, construction sites and such, as well as picked up and brought in from other regions.

“This summer in the first week of July, we had a lot of ozone alerts, seven out of eight days or something like that. Part of that was because we had high pressure over the valley, so nothing was moving. All of those pollutants were just stewing here and cooking in the sun. All those UV rays are a major factor of ozone formation.”

We would note, however, that since the Las Vegas valley is so large, about 1,600 square miles, it disperses some of the pollution, so it doesn't get too concentrated in any one area. That's unlike a couple of other bowls in the state, namely the Tahoe Basin and Reno.

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Comments

Kevin Lewis Aug-09-2023

A bowl you can't flush

Unfortunately, "bowls" are one of the best places for human habitation, because the surrounding mountains provide runoff and charge the aquifers at the bottom of the bowl, and they also provide some insulation from violent weather. I say "unfortunately" because they're also some of the absolute worst places for an industrial city. At least Vegas's primary industry is removing money from people's pockets and not heavy manufacturing.

CLIFFORD Aug-09-2023

GOOD

SPENT 10 WINTERS IN LW...NEVER NOTICED SMOG.  A TRIBUTE TO LIBERAL AIR EFFORTS (God bless their good work.) I WONDER WHAT THE SMOG IS LIKE IN SUMMER THERE.

Doc H Aug-09-2023

air

Perhaps in your 10 years you weren't paying attention enough? From the site IQAIR:

'As a result of these weather effects, Las Vegas’s most polluted months are in the winter. In 2018 and 2019, December, January and November were respectively the city’s most polluted.'

As for 'A TRIBUTE TO LIBERAL AIR EFFORTS (God bless their good work.)', never been to CA and the pollution in many of their cities, eh? Hint, they have some of the worst in the nation.

Doc H Aug-09-2023

forgot

To include this to show you how those "LIBERAL AIR EFFORTS" are going, from KCRA site in Sacramento in April 2023, from the 2023 study: 

'According to a report released Wednesday by the American Lung Association, 98% of Californians are experiencing unhealthy levels of air pollution in their communities.'

Appears Las Vegas looks not so bad in comparison.

CLIFFORD Aug-09-2023

DocH- WINTERS

In LW 2007-2015.   In Calif 1958 for 3 weeks with me family...smog was terrible..back again like maybe 40 and 50 year later.  No smog problem.  You gotta love those liberals and the great things they have done for air quality. Bless Elon Musk too,

Doc H Aug-09-2023

Air

Hi Clifford. I think the elephant in the room is it's what you can't see that can hurt you in the air, not just what you can see. In desert cities like Las Vegas and Phoenix, the inversion effect creates quite a bit of bad air in the winter, visible or not to the eye, it's there. With the American Lung Association making a comment in 2023 that 98% of the air in CA is unhealthy, that doesn't seem like any meaningful improvement in frankly a very ugly report. 

'According to a report released Wednesday by the American Lung Association, 98% of Californians are experiencing unhealthy levels of air pollution in their communities.' 

Las Vegas on the ozone list was #15 top in the nation, so not good.

As for electric cars and such, they must be charged up with electricity of course which requires in most districts fossil fuel energy plants so in most places, the gain is not as much as perhaps one might think.

Question of the Day - 09 August 2023

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