Today's Texas Air Quality Forecast

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

Scattered burning activities across Southeast Texas, North Central Texas, East Texas, and the Coastal Plains are expected to continue producing light density residual smoke that will continue to linger over portions of these regions. Local industrial activities across the Permian Basin are expected to continue to slightly elevate fine particulate matter across portions of the region as well. The fire activities, gas flaring and other industrial activities across central and southern Mexico are also expected to continue and produce light density residual smoke as well as other aerosol emissions that will continue to be steered northward and filter over portions of deep South Texas and possibly over portions of the Coastal Plains, slightly raising PM2.5 levels at times across these regions. Meanwhile, southerly winds will continue transporting slightly elevated relative humidity levels over most of the state with the exception of far West Texas, the Permian Basin, and the Big Bend region, which will contribute towards raising PM2.5 levels in the more populated areas as well. Overall, the daily PM2.5 AQI is forecast to reach the lower end of the "Moderate" range in parts of the Brownsville-McAllen, Corpus Christi, Houston, Laredo, Midland-Odessa, Tyler-Longview, Victoria, and Waco-Killeen areas and remain in the "Good" range for the majority of the Austin, Beaumont-Port Arthur, Bryan-College Station, Dallas-Fort Worth, and San Antonio areas.

Light daytime winds and limited morning vertical mixing across far West Texas are expected and may be enough to raise the daily PM2.5/PM10 AQIs to the lower to middle of the "Moderate" range in parts of the El Paso area.

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

A cold front is forecast to begin pushing through the Texas Panhandle during the evening to overnight hours. The scattered burning activities across Southeast Texas, North Central Texas, East Texas, and the Coastal Plains should continue and produce light density residual smoke that is expected to continue filtering and lingering over portions of these regions. Local industrial activities across the Permian Basin are expected to continue to slightly elevate fine particulate matter across portions of this region as well. The fire activities, gas flaring and other industrial activities across central and southern Mexico are also expected to continue and produce light density residual smoke and other aerosol emissions that should continue filtering over portions of deep South Texas as well as the Coastal Plains, slightly raising PM2.5 levels at times across these regions as well. Meanwhile, the southerly winds will continue transporting slightly elevated relative humidity levels over most of the state with the exception of far West Texas and the Big Bend region, which might contribute towards raising PM2.5 levels in the more populated areas as well. Overall, the daily PM2.5 AQI is forecast to reach the lower end of the "Moderate" range in parts of the Laredo, Midland-Odessa, and Tyler-Longview areas and remain in the "Good" range for the majority of the Austin, Beaumont-Port Arthur, Brownsville-McAllen, Bryan-College Station, Corpus Christi, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, San Antonio, Victoria, and Waco-Killeen areas. The daily PM10 AQI may reach the upper end of the "Good" range (perhaps with an isolated low "Moderate") in parts of the Brownsville-McAllen area as well.

Light morning winds and limited vertical mixing across far West Texas and the Big Bend region may be enough to raise the daily PM2.5 AQI to the middle of the "Moderate" range in parts of the El Paso area and to the upper end of the "Good" range in parts of the Big Bend area. The daily PM10 AQI may stay in the lower to middle of the "Moderate" range in parts of the El Paso area as well.

Light winds, warm temperatures, sufficient afternoon sunshine, and/or slightly 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 Austin and San Antonio areas; and the upper end of the "Good" range in parts of the Beaumont-Port Arthur, Big Bend, Bryan-College Station, Dallas-Fort Worth, El Paso, Laredo, Tyler-Longview, and Waco-Killeen areas, with the highest concentrations in the afternoon and early evening.

Elevated daytime winds with strong gusts associated with the aforementioned cold front may generate and transport patchy blowing dust into and through portions of the Texas Panhandle, the South Plains, the Permian Basin, and far West Texas that could at times raise the PM2.5/PM10 levels to the "Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups" range or even "Unhealthy" range in parts of these regions. Model guidance suggests the densest dust may occur over the Permian Basin and far West Texas. The density, duration, and coverage of the suspended dust may be enough to raise the overall daily PM2.5 AQI to the upper end of the "Moderate" range in parts of the El Paso area; to the lower end of the "Moderate" range in parts of the Lubbock and Midland-Odessa areas; and to the upper end of the "Good" range in parts of the Amarillo area. The daily PM10 AQI may rise to the middle to upper end the "Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups" range in parts of the El Paso area and to the upper end of the "Good" range in parts of the Amarillo area as well.

The cold front is forecast to continue moving southward through North Central, Central, and Northeast Texas. Depending on the scattered burning activities across Southeast Texas, North Central Texas, East Texas, and the Coastal Plains in addition to the Central U.S. and Mississippi River Valley, light density residual smoke may continue to filter and linger over portions of these regions. Should the fire activities, gas flaring and other industrial activities across central and southern Mexico continue, light density residual smoke and other aerosol emissions may continue to filter over portions of deep South Texas as well as the Coastal Plains, slightly raising PM2.5 levels at times across the regions too. Meanwhile, southerly winds out ahead of the front are expected to continue transporting slightly elevated relative humidity levels over the southern half of the state, which may continue to contribute towards raising PM2.5 levels in the more populated areas. Overall, the daily PM2.5 AQI may reach the lower end of the "Moderate" range in parts of the Brownsville-McAllen, Houston, and Laredo areas and remain in 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.

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

The aforementioned cold front is forecast to move through the remainder of the southern half of Texas bringing northern to eastern winds across most of the state. Lingering light density suspended dust generated the previous day over the Texas Panhandle, the South Plains, the Permian Basin, and far West Texas may persist over portions of these region, primarily over far West Texas and also may have been transported a bit further south over the Texas Hill Country region. Meanwhile, should the scattered burning activities across Southeast Texas, North Central Texas, East Texas, and the Coastal Plains in addition to the Central U.S. and Mississippi River Valley continue, light density residual smoke may filter southward and westward over portions of these regions. Additionally, light density residual smoke and other aerosol emissions associated with the fire activities, gas flaring, and other industrial activities across central and southern Mexico may continue to linger over portions of deep South Texas as well, slightly raising PM2.5 levels at times across this region. Overall, the daily PM2.5 AQI may reach the lower end of the "Moderate" range in parts of the Brownsville-McAllen, Beaumont-Port Arthur, and Houston areas and remain in the "Good" range for the majority of the Austin, Bryan-College Station, Corpus Christi, Dallas-Fort Worth, El Paso, Laredo, San Antonio, Tyler-Longview, Victoria, and Waco-Killeen areas.