Today's Texas Air Quality Forecast

Warm temperatures, light winds, 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 Bryan-College Station, Dallas-Fort Worth, El Paso, and Houston areas; the lower end of the "Moderate" range in parts of the Amarillo, Austin, Beaumont-Port Arthur, Lubbock, Midland-Odessa, San Antonio, and Waco-Killeen areas; and the upper end of the "Good" range in parts of the Big Bend, Corpus Christi, and Victoria areas, with the highest concentrations in the afternoon and early evening.

A shortwave disturbance will continue moving eastward from East Texas to out over the lower Mississippi River Valley. Light daytime winds are expected to continue limiting local dispersion of urban fine particulate matter over the more populated areas across the eastern two-thirds of the state as well as the Permian Basin and slightly elevate PM2.5 levels. Small, scattered burning activities across parts of North Central Texas, Southeast Texas, the Coastal Plains, and the lower Mississippi River Valley will continue to produce light density residual smoke that could slightly contribute towards raising fine particulate matter over parts of these areas, however these aerosols are not expected to contribute significantly towards the PM2.5 levels. Overall, the daily PM2.5 AQI may reach 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, and Waco-Killeen areas and the upper end of the "Good" range in parts of the Laredo, Midland-Odessa, and Victoria areas.

Light daytime winds and lower morning vertical mixing heights, limiting pollutant dispersion, over portions of far West Texas may be enough to raise the daily PM2.5/PM10 AQIs to the lower end of the "Moderate" range in parts of the region, which includes the El Paso area.

Warm temperatures, light winds, sufficient afternoon sunshine, and/or slightly elevated lingering background levels could be enough for ozone to reach the middle to upper end of the "Moderate" range in parts of the El Paso area; the lower end of the "Moderate" range in parts of the Amarillo, Lubbock, and Midland-Odessa areas; and the upper end of the "Good" range in parts of the Austin, Big Bend, Dallas-Fort Worth, San Antonio, and Waco-Killeen areas, with the highest concentrations in the afternoon and early evening.

Slightly increased fine particulate background levels associated with a combination of light urban aerosols associated with light morning winds over the more populated areas across the eastern two-thirds of the state as well as the Permian Basin, light density residual smoke attributed to likely ongoing small, scattered burning activities across parts of North Central Texas, Southeast Texas, the Coastal Plains, and the lower Mississippi River Valley, as well as slightly increasing relative humidity levels from Gulf moisture may be enough to slightly raise PM2.5 levels across these regions of Texas, especially over the more populated areas. While light scattered rain showers, mainly for the southern half of the state, might washout some of the fine particulates, the overall daily PM2.5 AQI is forecast to still reach the lower end of the "Moderate" range in parts of the Brownsville-McAllen, Corpus Christi, Houston, Tyler-Longview, and Victoria areas and the upper end of the "Good" range in parts of the Austin, Beaumont-Port Arthur, Bryan-College Station, Dallas-Fort Worth, Laredo, Midland-Odessa, San Antonio, and Waco-Killeen areas.

Light daytime winds and lower morning vertical mixing heights, limiting pollutant dispersion, along with some light urban pollutant carryover from the previous day over portions of far West Texas may raise the daily PM2.5/PM10 AQIs to the lower to middle of the "Moderate" range in parts of the region, which includes the El Paso area.

Warm temperatures, light winds, sufficient afternoon sunshine, and/or slightly elevated lingering background levels could be enough for ozone to reach the lower to middle of the "Moderate" range in parts of the and El Paso area and the upper end of the "Good" range in parts of the Amarillo, Austin, Big Bend, Dallas-Fort Worth, Lubbock, Midland-Odessa, San Antonio, and Waco-Killeen areas, with the highest concentrations in the afternoon and early evening.

Depending on the amount of possible ongoing small, scattered burning activities across parts of North Central Texas, Southeast Texas, and the Coastal Plains, very light density residual smoke combined with increasing relative humidity levels over the state may enhance particle formation and slightly raise PM2.5 levels across portions of Texas, especially over the more populated areas. While scattered rain showers are forecast to continue across portions of the state and should help washout some of these aerosols, the overall daily PM2.5 AQI is forecast to remain in the upper end of the "Good" range (perhaps with an isolated low "Moderate") in parts of the Austin, Beaumont-Port Arthur, Bryan-College Station, Brownsville-McAllen, Corpus Christi, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, Laredo, Midland-Odessa, San Antonio, Tyler-Longview, Victoria, and Waco-Killeen areas.

Fine urban particulate levels owing to limited dispersion from light daytime winds and limited morning vertical mixing over portions of far West Texas may be enough to raise the daily PM2.5/PM10 AQIs to the lower end of the "Moderate" range in parts of the region, which includes the El Paso area.

Moderate winds, insufficient afternoon sunshine, and/or lower incoming background levels should be enough for ozone to stay in the "Good" range for most areas statewide.

Persistent rain showers statewide are expected to help washout more of the possible lingering light density residual smoke attributed to small, scattered burning activities across parts of North Central Texas, Southeast Texas, and the Coastal Plains. Meanwhile, elevated relative humidity levels over the state may continue to contribute towards fine particulate formation and raising PM2.5 levels across portions of Texas, especially over the more populated areas. Depending on the intensity of the scattered rain showers, the overall daily PM2.5 AQI is forecast to remain in the upper end of the "Good" range (perhaps with an isolated low "Moderate") in parts of the Austin, Beaumont-Port Arthur, Bryan-College Station, Brownsville-McAllen, Corpus Christi, Dallas-Fort Worth, El Paso, Houston, Laredo, Midland-Odessa, San Antonio, Tyler-Longview, Victoria, and Waco-Killeen areas.