<p>D has stated she is reluctant to consider southern California colleges because she doesn't want to "eat the air". She has recently stated that she might reconsider ... truthfully, how bad is the air quality at the Claremont colleges? "Smell-A" is what some of us northern Californians who don't know any better and haven't lived there call So Cal. Is it true?</p>
<p>bump … anybody?</p>
<p>i visited ( im from NY where the air sucks too… LOL) and its fine. You don’t “smell” it, it smells normal to me… just not definitely the refreshing air you can find in places like vermont.</p>
<p>The worst smog will be in the late summer/early fall. Hot weather makes it worse, because it causes an inversion layer that traps the smog in the inland valleys. Worst time of day is late afternoon, because the smog rolls eastward from the Los Angeles metro area where there are lots of refineries and trucks. Unless there are Santa Ana winds blowing, which blow all of the smog out over the ocean leaving Claremont with a clear blue sky.</p>
<p>Of course the smog nowadays is a mere pittance to what it was in the late 70’s when I attended Pomona. Back then there were upwards of 150 smog alert days per year. Now there are typically just a handful of smog alert days.</p>
<p>I’m from a very rural area of the country, with some of the cleanest air around, and I don’t notice the difference at all. I’m always confused when people hype this up to be a problem; I suppose it was a bigger deal a few decades ago, but there’s no trouble exercising outside, playing sports, etc. Even people I know with asthma seem to be fine…</p>
<p>Just got back from Commencement that was held outdoors, and can attest that the air quality is great! Almost all of the weekend’s activities were outside, and there was no problem.</p>
<p>Ms. Ladybug- It’s not the air, your daughter just doesn’t want to go to school in SoCal. Read between the lines.</p>
<p>If you do a CC search for “Claremont + smog” you’ll find many, many old threads on this issue. Nothing terribly different than what’s already been said here, but plenty of back-up opinions :)</p>
<p>I live about 30 min away and every time I’ve been on campus you don’t notice anything with the air. All the trees and shade help with the air quality. The surrounding are can be a different story though…mainly in the summer.</p>