After an unsettled beginning to the week, things will clear out and warm up as we head to the second half of the week. The low pressure trough which brought scattered showers Tuesday will move off to the south, and a ridge of high pressure will build in firmly through the weekend. After a few clouds hang around Wednesday, the skies will clear out for the foreseeable future. Highs in the low 60s Wednesday will jump to 70 on Thursday, mid-70s on Friday and will peak in the low 80s through the weekend.

We’ve been talking about air quality. The five pollutants are: ground-level ozone, particle pollution, carbon monoxide (CO), sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen dioxide. Here in the Truckee Meadows, ozone, carbon monoxide and two grades of particulate matter are measured and reported. The EPA has established health standards for various pollutants, and assigned a color scheme. Anything 50 and below get a green color (good), 51-100 is yellow (moderate), 101-150 is orange (unhealthy for sensitive groups), 151-200 is red (unhealthy for all), 201-300 is purple (very unhealthy), and anything above 300 is maroon (hazardous.)