Heat and humidity make air tough to breathe

CHICOPEE, Mass. (WWLP) - Hampden County and parts of Hampshire County were under an air quality alert on Saturday and for many of us that's very serious.

"It feels like someone's sitting on your chest and you can't catch your breath," said Raymond Guy of Chicopee.

Raymond Guy has bad asthma and hot and humid days with bad air quality make it very difficult for him to spend time outside.

"I take more of my inhalers and basically I try and stay in the air conditioning, stay in the house, don't go outside, avoid the head. This summer's been real bad, last summer wasn't too bad. This summer I can't really go out and do my exercises like I like to," said Guy.

On days when the air quality is poor, doing activities like kayaking, walking or even just being outside can be difficult for someone with asthma.

On Saturday, the poor air quality was due to increased levels of ground level ozone, also known as smog.

High temperatures and sunlight help to create ozone. The wind direction also plays a big role in bringing in pollutants from neighboring states into western Massachusetts.

For Richard Purcell who also has bad asthma, on days like Saturday he has to take two inhalers with him just to breathe outside. If he stays inside, it's a different game plan.

"The main thing, I don't have air conditioning but what I do is turn all the fans on and make sure I get good air circulation inside the house, keep reversing the fans so the cool air stays in and the bad air goes out," said Richard Purcell of Holyoke.

With more hot and humid days to come, staying inside in cooler, cleaner air may be the safest place to be if the air outside makes you uncomfortable.