Arizona air quality

Phoenix, Arizona Air Quality

Maricopa County33.448, -112.074

The nearest monitor to Phoenix, at Central Phoenix, 2 miles away, measured an index of 31 at Mon, 10:00 AM MST, which is Good for coarse particles (PM10). Arizona Department of Environmental Quality forecasts Moderate for Phoenix today and Good tomorrow.

Measured now
31 · Good
Today
56 · Moderate
Tomorrow
47 · Good
Pollutant
PM10

Fine particles on the map

Forecast fine particulate matter from NOAA’s National Air Quality Forecast Capability over Phoenix, Arizona. Open it for the live map, where it pans and zooms.

Forecast fine particulate matter from NOAA’s National Air Quality Forecast Capability over Phoenix, Arizona Open the live map with the particulate forecast

Map layer from NOAA National Air Quality Forecast Capability. Boundaries from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet.

Alerts in force

An Air Quality Alert is issued by the National Weather Service on behalf of a state or local agency when pollution is expected to reach a level that harms health. An Air Stagnation Advisory means the air will not move enough to clear what is already in it.

None are in force near Phoenix right now. All Arizona warnings.

Now

Good

Nearest monitor
Central Phoenix, 2 miles away (site 040133002)
Index measured
31 · Good
Measured at
Mon, 10:00 AM MST
Ozone
19 ppb
Reporting area
Phoenix, AZ, 7 miles away
Reported by
Arizona Department of Environmental Quality
Area index
61 · Moderate

Measured, not modeled. AirNow observations are preliminary until the operating agency certifies them, which happens months later.

Today and tomorrow

Arizona Department of Environmental Quality's own forecast for Phoenix, written by a forecaster rather than read off a model.

DayCategoryIndexPollutant
TodayModerate56PM10
TomorrowGood47PM10
Wednesday, September 23Moderate51Ozone
Thursday, September 24Good50PM10
Friday, September 25Moderate51Ozone

The forecaster’s discussion

Written by Arizona Department of Environmental Quality for Phoenix and filed with AirNow.

Ozone remained in the Good AQI range through the weekend. This week's daily ozone values will be in the Good to lower Moderate AQI category. There will be some variation depending on when more cloud cover and rain comes, and the highest chance for Phoenix to see rain would be Thursday.

Looking at PM10 the past few days, one location reached the Moderate AQI category Friday due to local impacts in the evening. Otherwise, sites were in the Good AQI through the weekend. Today will already have at least one site reaching daily Moderate AQI in western Phoenix due to local industrial and construction activity. The next few mornings will have similar trends.

The next focus will be on outflow winds or rain later in the day. The main factor Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons will be outflow winds from storms to the east, and a peak in hourly PM10 AQI values have been added. Thursday is when outflow winds and thunderstorms could reach the Phoenix area in the evening, and this will be monitored through the week. PM2.5 will have similar trends.

A. Hermansen

Last Update: Monday, September 21, 2026, 9:52 AM

Hour by hour

NOAA’s National Air Quality Forecast Capability, bias-corrected against monitors, for this town’s own coordinate. The worst hour ahead is an index of 47, Good, around Thu, 12:00 AM MST, from the run issued Mon, 5:00 AM MST. This is a model, not a measurement.

HourIndexCategoryPM2.5Ozone
Mon, 7:00 AM MST26Good4.7
Mon, 8:00 AM MST24Good4.1
Mon, 9:00 AM MST21Good3.2
Mon, 10:00 AM MST17Good2.4
Mon, 11:00 AM MST14Good2.1
Mon, 12:00 PM MST16Good3.2
Mon, 1:00 PM MST19Good4.218.7
Mon, 2:00 PM MST21Good2.823.3
Mon, 3:00 PM MST25Good2.327.8
Mon, 4:00 PM MST29Good2.231.6
Mon, 5:00 PM MST31Good2.434.2
Mon, 6:00 PM MST33Good2.236
Mon, 7:00 PM MST33Good3.336.4
Mon, 8:00 PM MST31Good4.234.1
Mon, 9:00 PM MST29Good3.431.5
Mon, 10:00 PM MST27Good2.229
Mon, 11:00 PM MST24Good3.126.3
Tue, 12:00 AM MST21Good4.223.6
Tue, 1:00 AM MST23Good4.920.9
Tue, 2:00 AM MST23Good4.317.7
Tue, 3:00 AM MST30Good6.715.2
Tue, 4:00 AM MST26Good4.114.2
Tue, 5:00 AM MST22Good3.113
Tue, 6:00 AM MST20Good3.411.4
Tue, 7:00 AM MST23Good4.89.8
Tue, 8:00 AM MST29Good6.29.5
Tue, 9:00 AM MST27Good4.410.3
Tue, 10:00 AM MST21Good2.612.1
Tue, 11:00 AM MST19Good3.214.6
Tue, 12:00 PM MST21Good4.117.9
Tue, 1:00 PM MST23Good4.722
Tue, 2:00 PM MST23Good2.425.7
Tue, 3:00 PM MST27Good1.829.3
Tue, 4:00 PM MST30Good2.832.2
Tue, 5:00 PM MST31Good2.734.6
Tue, 6:00 PM MST33Good2.736.5
Tue, 7:00 PM MST33Good2.336.9
Tue, 8:00 PM MST32Good3.336
Tue, 9:00 PM MST31Good434
Tue, 10:00 PM MST30Good5.332.4
Tue, 11:00 PM MST29Good6.131.2
Wed, 12:00 AM MST32Good6.529.7
Wed, 1:00 AM MST31Good5.228.5
Wed, 2:00 AM MST31Good5.827.2
Wed, 3:00 AM MST28Good4.526.2
Wed, 4:00 AM MST24Good3.725.4
Wed, 5:00 AM MST22Good3.724.5
Wed, 6:00 AM MST22Good423.2
Wed, 7:00 AM MST24Good4.821.3
Wed, 8:00 AM MST19Good2.320.6
Wed, 9:00 AM MST18Good2.519.9
Wed, 10:00 AM MST18Good219.7
Wed, 11:00 AM MST19Good1.620.5
Wed, 12:00 PM MST20Good2.522.8
Wed, 1:00 PM MST24Good3.426.3
Wed, 2:00 PM MST28Good2.730.6
Wed, 3:00 PM MST32Good2.735.4
Wed, 4:00 PM MST36Good2.739.3
Wed, 5:00 PM MST39Good3.142.8
Wed, 6:00 PM MST43Good346
Wed, 7:00 PM MST44Good2.847
Wed, 8:00 PM MST41Good2.544.4
Wed, 9:00 PM MST37Good4.540.2
Wed, 10:00 PM MST33Good7.836.4
Wed, 11:00 PM MST45Good10.732.9
Thu, 12:00 AM MST47Good8.729.5
Thu, 1:00 AM MST37Good5.126.1
Thu, 2:00 AM MST24Good222.8
Thu, 3:00 AM MST19Good1.321.1
Thu, 4:00 AM MST19Good1.821.6
Thu, 5:00 AM MST20Good2.622.6

Fine particles in micrograms per cubic meter, ozone in parts per billion as an 8-hour average. The index for each hour is EPA’s: the ozone figure is already the 8-hour average the ozone index is defined on, and the particle figure is run through EPA’s NowCast, which is how an hourly PM2.5 concentration becomes an index.

Smoke

NOAA’s analysts have not drawn smoke over Phoenix in satellite imagery today.

NOAA’s model forecasts near-surface smoke peaking at 0.3 µg/m³ around Tue, 2:00 PM MST.

Smoke on the radar over Phoenix

What this means

Good

Air quality is satisfactory, and air pollution poses little or no risk.

Who is affected
Nobody is expected to be affected.
What to do
It is a good day to be outside.
Index range
0 to 50

Category descriptions are the Environmental Protection Agency’s own.

What these numbers are. An index beside a monitor’s name is a measurement, published hourly by AirNow and preliminary until the operating agency certifies it. A category for today or tomorrow is a state or local agency forecaster’s own forecast for a reporting area. An hourly index is NOAA’s air quality model on a five-kilometer grid, not a reading from any instrument. Where a town has no monitor within reach, only the model figures appear, and the page says so.

Nearby

The nearest towns with a page of their own, closest first.

Weather forecast for PhoenixWarnings in Maricopa CountyLive radar over PhoenixArizona air quality

Sources

Observations and daily forecasts from AirNow, the US Environmental Protection Agency’s program with NOAA, the National Park Service, NASA, tribal, state and local agencies. Hourly forecasts from NOAA’s National Air Quality Forecast Capability. Smoke analysis from NOAA’s Hazard Mapping System. Alerts from the National Weather Service. Index categories and breakpoints are EPA’s, as revised in 2024.