Low wind conditions are causing high air pollution days in Hastings.
"There's not much we can do about the weather, but the amount of smoke we produce is something we can change and need to change to achieve health standards regardless of the weather," Hawke's Bay Regional Council's air quality scientist, Dr Kathleen Kozyniak said.
The National Air Quality Standard - set at 50 micrograms of PM10 per cubic metre - has been exceeded seven times in Hastings this year. This is twice what the regional council had hoped for. None has been recorded in Napier.
The air pollution problem is caused by smoky air being trapped close to the ground when inversion layers form in the atmosphere over the plains during cold, low wind conditions. The small particles in smoke cause a health issue inside and outside homes, especially for people with respiratory problems.
Hawke's Bay Regional Council's Heat Smart manager Mark Heaney said since 2009 - when the council began providing grants and loans to help people upgrade to modern wood burners - 8700 wood burners have been replaced. Many other homes are likely to have upgraded as well, without the use of HBRC funding.