Little Relief From the Summer of Smog

With late-summer swelter still possible, much of the Northeast is panting and heaving through its thickest smog in years, air quality monitors say. In Connecticut, the smog has been at its worst since 1993. In Maryland, any more hot and stagnant weather will also likely yield that state’s highest levels in years. Environmental regulators blame the 1997 Summer of Smog on quirks of the annual weather cycle. They say hot, still, sunny weather conspired with the position of the jet stream to produce exceptional conditions for making ozone--popularly called smog. The Northeast, from the northern section of Virginia to Maine, has strained under 24 smog days so far this year.