Today's Texas Air Quality Forecast

Light winds, warm temperatures, sufficient afternoon sunshine, and/or elevated lingering background levels could be enough for ozone to reach the upper end of the "Moderate" range in parts of the Dallas-Fort Worth area; the middle of the "Moderate" range in parts of the Austin and Houston areas; the lower end of the "Moderate" range in parts of the San Antonio and Waco-Killeen areas; and the upper end of the "Good" range for the majority of the Amarillo, Beaumont-Port Arthur, Brownsville-McAllen, Bryan-College Station, Corpus Christi, Laredo, Lubbock, Midland-Odessa, Tyler-Longview, and Victoria areas, with the highest concentrations in the afternoon and early evening.

Scattered prescribed burning activities across parts of the Mississippi River Valley and East Texas are continuing to produce light density residual smoke plumes that are lingering over portions of Northeast, Southeast, and North Central Texas while weakening over deep South Texas, the Coastal Plains, South Central Texas, the Permian Basin, the Rio Grande Valley, and the eastern Texas Panhandle. Combined with slightly elevated light density urban fine particulate aerosols associated with light morning winds over the eastern two-thirds of Texas, the overall daily PM2.5 AQI may rise to the lower end of the "Moderate" range in parts of the Brownsville-McAllen, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, Tyler-Longview, and Waco-Killeen areas and to the upper end of the "Good" range for the majority of the Austin, Beaumont-Port Arthur, Bryan-College Station, Corpus Christi, Laredo, San Antonio, and Victoria areas.

Fine urban particulate levels owing to limited dispersion from light daytime winds and limited morning vertical mixing over portions of far West Texas are expected to occasionally raise PM2.5/PM10 levels to the "Moderate" range, however the overall daily PM2.5/PM10 AQIs are forecast to net out in the "Good" range for the majority of the region, which includes the El Paso area.

Light winds, warm temperatures, sufficient afternoon sunshine, and/or elevated incoming background levels could be enough for ozone to reach the lower end of the "Moderate" range in parts of the Houston, Midland-Odessa, and San Antonio areas and the upper end of the "Good" range for the majority of the Amarillo, Austin, Beaumont-Port Arthur, Brownsville-McAllen, Bryan-College Station, Corpus Christi, Dallas-Fort Worth, Laredo, Lubbock, Tyler-Longview, Victoria, and Waco-Killeen areas.

A large portion of the light density residual smoke attributed to the scattered prescribed burning activities across parts of the Mississippi River Valley and East Texas is forecast to begin exiting the state as a cold front moves over West Texas, the Texas Panhandle, the Permian Basin, and North Central Texas. While some of the smoke combined with slightly elevated light density urban fine particulate aerosols associated with light morning winds or slightly elevated relative humidity levels over the eastern two-thirds of Texas may raise PM2.5 levels to the "Moderate" range at times, the overall daily PM2.5 AQI is forecast to net out in the lower end of the "Moderate" range in parts of the Brownsville-McAllen and Houston areas and the upper end of the "Good" range for the majority of the Austin, Beaumont-Port Arthur, Bryan-College Station, Corpus Christi, Dallas-Fort Worth, Laredo, San Antonio, Tyler-Longview, Victoria, and Waco-Killeen areas.

Light winds, warm temperatures, abundant afternoon sunshine, and/or elevated incoming background levels could be enough for ozone to reach the middle of the "Moderate" range in parts of the Houston area; the lower end of the "Moderate" range in parts of the Corpus Christi, San Antonio, and Victoria areas; and the upper end of the "Good" range for the majority of the Austin, Beaumont-Port Arthur, Brownsville-McAllen, Bryan-College Station, Dallas-Fort Worth, Laredo, Midland-Odessa, Tyler-Longview, and Waco-Killeen areas.

Depending on the amount of burning activities across portions of the Pacific Northwest, very light density residual smoke aerosols may begin to filter over portions of the Texas Panhandle and North Central Texas as the aforementioned cold front moves through the rest of the state, however the density of the aerosols are not expected to significantly impact surface PM2.5 levels very much. Additionally, light continental haze may be transported over North Central and East Texas too, slightly elevating fine particulate levels as well. Meanwhile, light morning winds may allow for local urban fine particulate aerosols to accumulate over portions of far West and Southeast Texas and periodically raise PM2.5/PM10 levels to the "Moderate" range. The overall daily PM2.5/PM10 AQIs however are forecast to remain in the "Good" range for the majority of these regions as well as the rest of Texas too.

Light winds, warm temperatures, abundant afternoon sunshine, and/or elevated incoming background levels could be enough for ozone to reach the upper end of the "Moderate" range in parts of the Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston areas; the middle of the "Moderate" range in parts of the Austin and San Antonio areas; the lower end of the "Moderate" range in parts of the Bryan-College Station, Midland-Odessa, Tyler-Longview, and Waco-Killeen areas; and the upper end of the "Good" range for the majority of the Beaumont-Port Arthur, Corpus Christi, El Paso, Laredo, and Victoria areas.

Depending on the amount of prescribed burning activities across parts of the Mississippi River Valley and East Texas, light density residual smoke may begin to expand over portions of East and Southeast Texas, slightly raising fine particulate levels. Meanwhile, another cold front is forecast to move through far West Texas, the Texas Panhandle, the Permian Basin, and a portion of North Central Texas. The light density residual smoke combined with slightly elevated urban fine particulate aerosols, mainly over South Central, North Central, Northeast, and Southeast Texas, converging along and ahead of the leading edge of the cold frontal boundary, may result in slightly increased PM2.5 levels as the front approaches. The overall daily PM2.5 AQI is forecast to rise to the lower end of the "Moderate" range in parts of the Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, Tyler-Longview, and Waco-Killeen areas and to the upper end of the "Good" range for the majority of the Austin, Beaumont-Port Arthur, Brownsville-McAllen, Bryan-College Station, Corpus Christi, San Antonio, and Victoria areas.

Slightly elevated urban fine particulate background levels over portions of far West Texas associated with light daytime winds and limited morning vertical mixing could raise the daily PM2.5/PM10 AQIs to the lower end of the "Moderate" range in parts of the El Paso area.

Light winds, warm temperatures, abundant afternoon sunshine, and/or elevated incoming background levels could be enough for ozone to reach the middle of the "Moderate" range in parts of the Austin, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, and San Antonio areas; the lower end of the "Moderate" range in parts of the Tyler-Longview and Waco-Killeen areas; and the upper end of the "Good" range for the majority of the Beaumont-Port Arthur, Bryan-College Station, Corpus Christi, El Paso, Laredo, Midland-Odessa, and Victoria areas.

Depending on the movement and position of the aforementioned cold front, potential light density residual smoke attributed to possible small prescribed burning activities across parts of the Mississippi River Valley and East Texas filtering over East and Southeast Texas, combined with slightly elevated urban fine particulate aerosols over portions of South Central, North Central, Northeast, and Southeast Texas attributed to light morning winds, and slightly elevated urban fine particulate aerosols over portions of deep South Texas, the Coastal Plains, and Southeast Texas attributed to slightly elevated relative humidity levels may periodically raise the PM2.5 AQI to the "Moderate" range. Overall, the daily PM2.5 AQI may remain in the lower end of the "Moderate" range in parts of the Brownsville-McAllen and Houston areas and should net out in the upper end of the "Good" range for the majority of the Austin, Beaumont-Port Arthur, Bryan-College Station, Corpus Christi, Dallas-Fort Worth, San Antonio, Tyler-Longview, Victoria, and Waco-Killeen areas.

Slightly elevated urban fine particulate background levels over portions of far West Texas associated with light daytime winds and limited morning vertical mixing could maintain the daily PM2.5/PM10 AQIs at the lower end of the "Moderate" range in parts of the El Paso area.