Dry eyes in Salt Lake City

Salt Lake City’s driest air comes in summer: NOAA’s Comparative Climatic Data list July afternoon relative humidity at the airport at 21 percent, against 70 percent in January. Winter brings a different problem, inversions that keep people indoors under the furnace. Both settings can leave eyes feeling dry. Through either one, Quell’s directions stay the same: Apply 1 drop 3 times per day in each eye.

A valley at 4,200 feet

NOAA lists the weather station at Salt Lake City International Airport at 1,288 meters, about 4,225 feet above sea level. The city sits on the floor of a basin, with the Wasatch Range rising to the east, the Oquirrh Mountains to the west and the Great Salt Lake to the northwest. That bowl shape matters for more than the views. It decides how air moves, or doesn’t, through the valley in winter, and it puts the ski canyons of the Wasatch within a short drive of downtown.

NOAA’s 1991–2020 normals give the airport 15.52 inches of precipitation a year, about twice Reno’s total, and 51.9 inches of snow. So Salt Lake isn’t dry in the way a low desert is. Its dryness comes in seasons, and the seasons pull in opposite directions.

Summer: the driest air of the year

• Afternoon humidity: NOAA’s tables, drawn from the airport’s 1948–2018 record, average 21 percent in July and 23 percent in August.
• Rain: the 1991–2020 normals put June-through-August precipitation at 2.02 inches, the smallest of the four seasons.
• Heat: the same normals average a summer high of 89.9°F.
• Sun: NOAA’s sunshine table gives July 85 percent of possible sunshine, based on 1965–1983 records.

That combination of heat, sun and low humidity means air conditioning in cars, offices and homes from June into September, and air conditioning dries indoor air further. Afternoons on a trail up Millcreek or Big Cottonwood Canyon add altitude and wind. Sunglasses help with both glare and wind, and a hat brim shades the eyes. None of it changes the label’s dose.

Winter inversions and indoor heat

The Utah Department of Environmental Quality explains inversions plainly. Normally the air near the ground is warmer than the air above it. In an inversion that flips: cold air at the surface gets trapped under a layer of warmer air. The Wasatch Mountains, the Oquirrh Mountains and Traverse Mountain form a basin that holds the cold air in the Salt Lake Valley and shields it from the stronger winds aloft that would clear it out.

The DEQ says a typical Utah winter has about five to six multi-day inversion episodes, that they are strongest in winter, and that a strong storm or low-pressure system is often what it takes to clear one. While one lasts, the valley can sit under a gray lid for days. NOAA’s sunshine table shows how dim the season gets: December averages 39 percent of possible sunshine, less than half of July’s figure.

For eyes, the inversion itself isn’t the issue so much as what people do during one. They stay inside. Furnaces run around the clock, NOAA’s normals put the average winter high at just 40.8°F and the low at 26.0°F, and evenings go to screens. Outdoor air in January is humid on paper, near 70 percent in the afternoon, but indoor air warmed from freezing holds far less moisture relative to what it could, so a heated home or office can feel much drier than the weather report suggests.

Ski days and canyon drives

A day in the Cottonwood canyons mixes cold wind, bright snow and a car parked in a lot for hours. Below freezing, a bottle left in the car or in an outside pocket of a pack drops under the bottom of the label’s range. Quell’s storage line reads: Store between 15° to 30°C (59° to 86°F). An inside jacket pocket keeps it close to body heat. The site’s guide on ski trips, cold wind and dry eyes covers goggles and using drops on the mountain.

Using and storing Quell in Salt Lake City

Quell is designed to reinforce the tear film’s oil layer to help reduce moisture loss. Its label’s Uses line reads: For use as a protectant against further irritation or to relieve dryness of the eye. The active ingredients are Glycerol (1.0%), Polysorbate 80 (1.0%) and Light Mineral Oil (0.5%).

• Use it as directed, the same dose in July and January: Apply 1 drop 3 times per day in each eye.
• Keep the tip clean, which matters with gloves, ski gear and car consoles around: Do not touch tip of bottle to any surface to avoid contamination.
• Check the color after a bottle has been cold. The Do not use line reads: If this product changes color. Product appears as a milky brown solution, which is normal.
• Keep the bottle in the house or on you, not in the car through a January cold snap.

When a drop isn’t the answer

Seasonal dryness is common, and it isn’t the only reason eyes can hurt. Stop use and ask a doctor if you feel eye pain or changes in your vision, if irritation or redness continues, or if the condition worsens or persists for 72 hours. The eye symptoms that need a doctor guide goes through the signs the label points to. For a medical emergency, call 911.

Getting Quell delivered in Utah

Quell ships from Brentwood, Tennessee to Salt Lake City and every other Utah address. The Salt Lake City page and the Utah page have local ordering details. Shipping is $10.00 per order and free on 3 or more bottles. Unopened bottles can be refunded within 30 days of delivery without sending them back.