Bad air: Pollution and school absences
The winter of 2013 was a record-setter for Utah. Salt Lake County experienced 22 days in which levels of microscopic soot particles (PM2.5) exceeded federal clean-air standards, compared with just one day the year prior. Correspondingly, the number of elementary students absent from school shot up in Salt Lake and in Provo and Alpine, where pollution spikes were even more pronounced. In mountainous Park City, which sits above the haze, school absences rose before and after weekends and holiday breaks, but were otherwise flat.
