Football: Air Quality Update

by CU Athletic Communications - Fri Nov 11 18:28:25 GMT-04:00 2016

CLEMSON - As of Friday night, layers of smoke covered Clemson University and surrounding areas due to area wildfires. As a result, the athletic department released the following statement concerning air quality and Saturday's activities, including No. 2 Clemson's game against Pittsburgh that will kick off at 3:30 p.m.

Tiger Fans,

We’re excited to welcome you to campus tomorrow for our annual Senior Day celebration and Hall of Fame recognition as we take on Pittsburgh at 3:30 p.m. For those of you already in the Upstate, you may have noticed the murky haze of residual smoke emanating from wildfires near the region.

We are actively monitoring the situation. DHEC currently lists our Air Quality Index (AQI) at 64, which is considered to be a “moderate” level of health concern. According to their site: “Air quality is acceptable; however, for some pollutants there may be a moderate health concern for a very small number of people who are unusually sensitive to air pollution.” If you have those sensitivities, please monitor the situation and plan accordingly.

Weather and fire experts anticipate a front moving through this evening into the early hours of Saturday, bringing steady winds from the east-northeast, which should alleviate some of the issue. All officials expect better air quality conditions by kickoff tomorrow.

In addition to air concerns, the South Carolina Forestry commission issued a burning ban Wednesday for Anderson, Greenville, Oconee, Pickens and Spartanburg counties. The ban prohibits outdoor burning, which includes yard debris burning and burning for forestry, wildlife or agricultural purposes. While campfires and open-fire cooking are not included in the ban, the Forestry Commission strongly encourages all citizens in the affected counties to refrain from unnecessary burning. We ask all our fans planning to grill on Saturday to do so with extreme caution and awareness of the dry conditions.

We’ll continue to update fans on ClemsonTigers.com and our social media channels @ClemsonTigers, and look forward to seeing you in Memorial Stadium tomorrow.

Go Tigers!