Today's Texas Air Quality Forecast

Forecast Discussion

Friday 07/20/2018
An Ozone Action Day is in effect today for the Dallas-Fort Worth, El Paso, and Houston areas. Winds may be light enough and/or incoming background levels high enough for ozone to reach "Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups" on the north and northeast side of the Dallas-Fort Worth area and on the northeast side of the Houston area; "Moderate" or possibly higher in parts of the El Paso area; "Moderate" in parts of the Amarillo, Lubbock, and Midland-Odessa areas; and the upper end of the "Good" range in the Austin, Beaumont-Port Arthur, and Waco-Killeen areas, with highest concentrations in the afternoon and early evening.

African dust is expected to persist across the entire state, with the heaviest dust forecast to shift further inland into portions of Central, North Central, and East Texas. Overall, the daily PM2.5 AQI is forecast to reach the middle to upper end of the "Moderate" range in parts of the Austin, Beaumont-Port Arthur, Dallas-Fort Worth, San Antonio, Tyler-Longview, and Waco-Killeen areas; the lower to middle end of the "Moderate" range in parts of the Big Bend, Brownsville-McAllen, Corpus Christi, Houston, Laredo, Lubbock, Midland-Odessa, and Victoria areas; and the upper end of the "Good" range in parts of the Amarillo and El Paso areas. The daily PM10 AQI associated with the dust could also reach the "Moderate" range in parts of the Austin, Beaumont-Port Arthur, Dallas-Fort Worth, San Antonio, Tyler-Longview, and Waco-Killeen areas as well.

Additionally, smoke from isolated fires scattered across the state may intermittently and locally increase PM2.5 levels at locations in the vicinity and immediately downwind of the fires, adding to the already elevated particulates associated with African dust.

Saturday 07/21/2018
An Ozone Action Day is in effect on Saturday for the Dallas-Fort Worth, El Paso, and Houston areas. Winds may be light enough and/or incoming background levels high enough for ozone to reach "Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups" on the east and northeast side of the Dallas-Fort Worth area, on the northeast side of the Houston area, and in parts of the El Paso area; and "Moderate" in parts of the Amarillo and Midland-Odessa areas, with highest concentrations in the afternoon and early evening.

Another pulse of African dust is expected to arrive in South and Southeast Texas while at least light amounts linger in patches across the remainder of the state. Overall, the daily PM2.5 AQI is forecast to reach the middle to upper end of the "Moderate" range in parts of the Brownsville-McAllen, Corpus Christi, Dallas-Fort Worth, and Victoria areas; the lower to middle end of the "Moderate" range in parts of the Austin, Beaumont-Port Arthur, Houston, Laredo, San Antonio, Tyler-Longview, and Waco-Killeen areas; and the upper end of the "Good" range in parts of the Amarillo, Big Bend, El Paso, Lubbock, and Midland-Odessa areas. The daily PM10 AQI associated with the dust could also reach the "Moderate" range in parts of the Brownsville-McAllen, Corpus Christi, Dallas-Fort Worth, and Victoria areas as well.

Sunday 07/22/2018 Outlook
An Ozone Action Day will be in effect on Sunday for the Dallas-Fort Worth and El Paso areas. Winds may be light enough and/or incoming background levels high enough for ozone to reach "Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups" on the east side of the Dallas-Fort Worth area and in parts of the El Paso area; "Moderate" or possibly higher on the east and northeast side of the Houston area; "Moderate" in parts of the Amarillo, Lubbock, Midland-Odessa, and Tyler-Longview areas; and the upper end of the "Good" range in the Austin and Beaumont-Port Arthur areas, with highest concentrations in the afternoon and early evening.

African dust is expected to persist in South and Central Texas and build further inland into parts of Northeast Texas, with at least light amounts lingering in patches across the remainder of the state. Overall, the daily PM2.5 AQI is forecast to reach the middle to upper end of the "Moderate" range in parts of the Austin, Beaumont-Port Arthur, Brownsville-McAllen, Corpus Christi, Houston, Laredo, San Antonio, and Victoria areas; the lower to middle end of the "Moderate" range in parts of the Dallas-Fort Worth, Lubbock, Tyler-Longview, and Waco-Killeen areas; and the upper end of the "Good" range in parts of the Amarillo, Big Bend, El Paso, and Midland-Odessa areas. The daily PM10 AQI associated with the dust could also reach the "Moderate" range in parts of the Austin, Beaumont-Port Arthur, Brownsville-McAllen, Corpus Christi, Houston, Laredo, San Antonio, and Victoria areas as well.

Monday 07/23/2018 Outlook
An Ozone Action Day will be in effect on Monday for the El Paso area. Winds may be light enough and/or incoming background levels high enough for ozone to reach "Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups" in parts of the El Paso area; "Moderate" or possibly higher on the north and northeast side of the Austin area, on the southwest side of the Dallas-Fort Worth area, on the east and northeast side of the Houston area, and on the north side of the San Antonio area; and "Moderate" in parts of the Midland-Odessa and Tyler-Longview areas, with highest concentrations in the afternoon and early evening.

African dust is expected to persist but weaken in South, East, and Central Texas while at least light amounts linger in patches across much of the remainder of the state with the exception of far West Texas. Overall, the daily PM2.5 AQI is forecast to reach the lower to middle end of the "Moderate" range in parts of the Austin, Beaumont-Port Arthur, Brownsville-McAllen, Corpus Christi, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, Laredo, San Antonio, Tyler-Longview, Victoria, and Waco-Killeen areas; and the upper end of the "Good" range in parts of the Amarillo, Big Bend, Lubbock, and Midland-Odessa areas.

Tuesday 07/24/2018 Extended Outlook
Winds may be light enough and/or incoming background levels high enough for ozone to reach "Moderate" or possibly higher in parts of the Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston areas and "Moderate" in parts of the Beaumont-Port Arthur, El Paso, Midland-Odessa, and Tyler-Longview areas, with highest concentrations in the afternoon and early evening.

Light amounts of weakening African dust is expected to linger across much of the state with the exception of the northern Panhandle, with the strongest dust remaining in South Texas, where the daily PM2.5 AQI could possibly reach the "Moderate" range in parts of the Brownsville-McAllen, Corpus Christi, and Laredo areas. The lingering African dust combined with contributions from residual smoke should fires continue in the South Plains and Southeastern United States could also be enough to raise the daily PM2.5 AQI to the "Moderate" range as well in Southeast Texas, including the Beaumont-Port Arthur and Houston areas.

Otherwise and elsewhere in the state, moderate winds and/or lower incoming background levels should help keep air quality in the "Good" range in most spots.

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This forecast was last updated at 1:30 PM on Sunday, July 22nd, and is updated daily on normal TCEQ work days and may also be updated on weekends or holidays when air pollution levels are high. Regardless of our forecast, we always recommend that each individual determine what level of activity they should conduct based on the actual local conditions. See the "Related Current Data" links above to monitor the latest actual conditions.