Today's Texas Air Quality Forecast

Ozone Action Days are in effect today for the Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston areas. Light winds, warm temperatures, sufficient afternoon sunshine, and/or elevated lingering background levels may be enough for ozone to reach the lower end of the "Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups" range on the west to southwest sides of the Dallas-Fort Worth area and in the central region and also possibly on the southwest side of the Houston area; the lower end of the "Moderate" range in parts of the Beaumont-Port Arthur, San Antonio, and Waco-Killeen areas; and the upper end of the "Good" range for the majority of the Austin, Big Bend, Bryan-College Station, Midland-Odessa, Tyler-Longview, and Victoria areas, with the highest concentrations in the afternoon and early evening.

A light density plume of residual smoke associated with wildfires across the Pacific Northwest lingering over Texas is continuing to weaken and is expected to completely diminish. Meanwhile, other light density plumes of residual smoke attributed to small scattered prescribed burnings across the Mississippi River Valley and East Texas are filtering mainly over portions of East, Southeast, and North Central Texas as a weak cold front moves through North Central Texas. Additionally, light density urban fine particulate aerosols associated with light daytime winds and/or slightly elevated relative humidity levels are expected to contribute towards raising PM2.5 concentrations mainly over deep South Texas, East, Southeast, and North Central Texas. Overall, the daily PM2.5 AQI are forecast to reach 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, San Antonio, Tyler-Longview, Victoria, and Waco-Killeen areas.

Gusty afternoon winds across portions of far West Texas may occasionally kick up some light density dust and raise the PM2.5/PM10 levels to the "Moderate" range at times. Depending on the duration of the gusty conditions, the overall daily PM10 AQI is forecast to remain in the "Moderate" range in parts of the El Paso area. The daily PM2.5 AQI is forecast to net out in the "Good" range for the majority of the El Paso area as well.

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 Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston areas; 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, Big Bend, Tyler-Longview, and Waco-Killeen areas, with the highest concentrations in the afternoon and early evening.

Very light density residual smoke from scattered prescribed burnings across portions of the Mississippi River Valley and East Texas are expected to linger primarily over East, Southeast, and North Central Texas as the aforementioned weak cold front is forecast to move through Northeast and South Central Texas. Meanwhile, light density urban fine particulate aerosols associated with light daytime winds and/or slightly elevated relative humidity levels are expected to contribute towards raising PM2.5 concentrations mainly over Deep South, East, Southeast, and North Central Texas. Overall, the daily PM2.5 AQI are forecast to reach the lower end of the "Moderate" range in parts of the Brownsville-McAllen, Dallas-Fort Worth, 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, San Antonio, Tyler-Longview, Victoria, and Waco-Killeen 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 Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston areas; the lower end of the "Moderate" range in parts of the Austin, Big Bend, San Antonio, and Victoria areas; and the upper end of the "Good" range for the majority of the Beaumont-Port Arthur, Bryan-College Station, Corpus Christi, Laredo, Midland-Odessa, Tyler-Longview, and Waco-Killeen areas, with the highest concentrations in the afternoon and early evening.

The aforementioned weak cold front is forecast to stall across North Central and Southeast Texas. Depending on the amount of potentially ongoing scattered prescribed burnings across the Mississippi River Valley and East Texas, very light density residual smoke is forecast to filter mainly over small portions of Northeast, Southeast, and North Central Texas. Urban fine particulate aerosols associated with light morning winds over the eastern two-thirds of the state and/or slightly elevated relative humidity levels primarily over deep South Texas may periodically raise PM2.5 concentrations to the "Moderate" range. Overall, the daily PM2.5 AQI may reach the lower end of the "Moderate" range in parts of the Brownsville-McAllen, Dallas-Fort Worth, 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, San Antonio, Tyler-Longview, Victoria, and Waco-Killeen areas.

Light winds, warm temperatures, abundant afternoon sunshine, and/or elevated lingering background levels could be enough for ozone to reach the middle to 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 Corpus Christi and Victoria areas; and the upper end of the "Good" range for the majority of the Amarillo, Beaumont-Port Arthur, Bryan-College Station, Laredo, Lubbock, Midland-Odessa, Tyler-Longview, and Waco-Killeen areas, with the highest concentrations in the afternoon and early evening.

The aforementioned weak cold front may slowly progress eastward and move over Northeast and Southeast Texas. Model guidance suggests that should the scattered prescribed burnings across the Mississippi River Valley and East Texas continue, a mixture of very light density residual smoke along with light density urban fine particulate aerosols associated with light morning winds may be enough to raise the overall daily PM2.5 AQI to the lower end of the "Moderate" range in parts of the Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston 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, Tyler-Longview, Victoria, and Waco-Killeen areas.