Today's Texas Air Quality Forecast

An Ozone Action Day is in effect today for the Dallas-Fort Worth 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 "Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups" range on the west and north sides of the Dallas-Fort Worth area; the upper end of the "Moderate" range (or possibly higher) on the north sides of the Houston and San Antonio areas as well as in parts of the Bryan-College Station and Waco-Killeen areas; the middle to upper end of the "Moderate" range in parts of the Austin and Tyler-Longview areas; the lower to middle of the "Moderate" range in parts of the Beaumont-Port Arthur, Corpus Christi, Midland-Odessa, and Victoria areas; and the upper end of the "Good" range for the majority of the Amarillo, Brownsville-McAllen, Laredo, Lubbock areas, with the highest concentrations in the afternoon and early evening.

The 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 filtering and lingering over the eastern two-thirds of the state and possibly reaching over portions of the Permian Basin 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, these conditions are forecast to be enough to raise the overall daily PM2.5 AQI to the lower end of the "Moderate" range in parts of the Austin, Beaumont-Port Arthur, Brownsville-McAllen, Bryan-College Station, Corpus Christi, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, San Antonio, Tyler-Longview, Victoria, and Waco-Killeen areas and to the upper end of the "Good" range for the majority of the Laredo and Midland-Odessa areas.

Light winds, warm temperatures, sufficient afternoon sunshine, and/or elevated lingering background levels could be enough for ozone to reach the middle of the "Moderate" range in parts of the Austin, Dallas-Fort Worth, 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.

The scattered prescribed burning activities across parts of the Mississippi River Valley and East Texas are expected to continue to produce light density residual smoke plumes that are forecast to continue 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 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, Laredo, San Antonio, and Victoria areas.

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 Austin, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, and San Antonio 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, 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 and the Texas Panhandle. 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 lower end of the "Moderate" range in parts of the Houston area and the upper end of the "Good" range for the majority of the Austin, Beaumont-Port Arthur, Brownsville-McAllen, Bryan-College Station, Corpus Christi, Dallas-Fort Worth, Laredo, San Antonio, Tyler-Longview, Victoria, 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. The overall daily PM2.5 AQI is forecast to remain in the "Good" range for the majority of Texas.