This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2017, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
We are now in the middle of smog season and things are no better than they were this time last year or the year before that. Day after day the valley is filled with smog that the Utah Division of Air Quality often designates either "unhealthy for some groups" or just plain "unhealthy."
And it is unhealthy. According to Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment, this kind of enduring smog causes between 1,000 and 2,000 Utahns to die prematurely every year.
Yet The Tribune's weather reports persist in euphemizing this filthy air by calling it merely "haze." The word "haze," according to the dictionary, refers mainly to the visual aspects of air. "Smog," by contrast, refers to the toxic content of air. The latter is far more accurate, and if The Tribune used it, perhaps more people would cut down on their vehicle use and the smog it causes — and save some lives!
Tom Huckin
Salt Lake City