Arizona air quality

Sun City West, Arizona Air Quality

Maricopa County33.662, -112.341

The nearest monitor to Sun City West, at Dysart, 2 miles away, measured an index of 33 at Tue, 12:00 PM MST, which is Good for ground-level ozone. Arizona Department of Environmental Quality forecasts Moderate for Phoenix today and Moderate tomorrow.

Measured now
33 · Good
Today
60 · Moderate
Tomorrow
54 · Moderate
Pollutant
Ozone

Fine particles on the map

Forecast fine particulate matter from NOAA’s National Air Quality Forecast Capability over Sun City West, 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 Sun City West, 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 Sun City West right now. All Arizona warnings.

Now

Good

Nearest monitor
Dysart, 2 miles away (site 040134010)
Index measured
33 · Good
Measured at
Tue, 12:00 PM MST
Ozone
42 ppb
Reporting area
Phoenix, AZ, 18 miles away
Reported by
Arizona Department of Environmental Quality
Area index
48 · Good

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
TodayModerate60PM10
TomorrowModerate54PM10
Thursday, September 24Moderate53PM10
Friday, September 25Moderate51Ozone
Saturday, September 26Moderate54Ozone

The forecaster’s discussion

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

Ozone yesterday reached the Good AQI category, and this will continue the next few days. There will be some variation depending on when more cloud cover and rain comes, and the highest chance for Phoenix to see rain would now be later Wednesday. However, a ridge of high pressure will continue building later this week, and daily values are forecast to reach the Moderate AQI category starting Friday.

Yesterday PM10 reached the Moderate AQI category due to local activity in West Phoenix. Today will also have a daily Moderate AQI because of morning local activity. There could be some outflow winds that come from the southeast today, but it is not expected to impact West Phoenix as much. Through Thursday, the trend of larger concentrations in the morning followed by possible evening increases from outflow winds and storms will continue. Starting Friday, storm chances decrease and PM10 will be impacted by local activity, especially in the mornings. PM2.5 will have similar trends.

A. Hermansen

Last Update: Tuesday, September 22, 2026, 9:39 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 56, Moderate, around Fri, 4:00 AM MST, from the run issued Tue, 5:00 AM MST. This is a model, not a measurement.

HourIndexCategoryPM2.5Ozone
Tue, 7:00 AM MST21Good3.5
Tue, 8:00 AM MST22Good4.4
Tue, 9:00 AM MST22Good4
Tue, 10:00 AM MST21Good3.2
Tue, 11:00 AM MST19Good3
Tue, 12:00 PM MST18Good3.2
Tue, 1:00 PM MST28Good3.730.1
Tue, 2:00 PM MST31Good2.433.4
Tue, 3:00 PM MST34Good2.237.4
Tue, 4:00 PM MST37Good1.240.5
Tue, 5:00 PM MST39Good1.542.8
Tue, 6:00 PM MST41Good1.544.5
Tue, 7:00 PM MST41Good2.244.6
Tue, 8:00 PM MST40Good2.243.2
Tue, 9:00 PM MST38Good2.441
Tue, 10:00 PM MST35Good1.238.4
Tue, 11:00 PM MST32Good1.935.9
Wed, 12:00 AM MST31Good1.533.1
Wed, 1:00 AM MST28Good1.730.1
Wed, 2:00 AM MST24Good226.7
Wed, 3:00 AM MST21Good523.9
Wed, 4:00 AM MST27Good6.421.5
Wed, 5:00 AM MST26Good4.320.7
Wed, 6:00 AM MST24Good4.319.1
Wed, 7:00 AM MST21Good3.217.7
Wed, 8:00 AM MST19Good3.417.2
Wed, 9:00 AM MST18Good317.6
Wed, 10:00 AM MST17Good2.518.3
Wed, 11:00 AM MST19Good2.620.3
Wed, 12:00 PM MST21Good3.523.7
Wed, 1:00 PM MST24Good5.326.7
Wed, 2:00 PM MST29Good3.831.3
Wed, 3:00 PM MST32Good3.835.8
Wed, 4:00 PM MST37Good2.740.3
Wed, 5:00 PM MST41Good3.644.8
Wed, 6:00 PM MST45Good3.649.4
Wed, 7:00 PM MST48Good5.152.8
Wed, 8:00 PM MST48Good4.552.7
Wed, 9:00 PM MST47Good9.351.3
Wed, 10:00 PM MST54Moderate14.347.9
Wed, 11:00 PM MST50Good7.644.6
Thu, 12:00 AM MST38Good3.941.3
Thu, 1:00 AM MST34Good2.837.2
Thu, 2:00 AM MST30Good2.132.2
Thu, 3:00 AM MST25Good2.427.7
Thu, 4:00 AM MST23Good2.925.5
Thu, 5:00 AM MST21Good2.423.8
Thu, 6:00 AM MST21Good3.323.5
Thu, 7:00 AM MST20Good222.6
Thu, 8:00 AM MST19Good2.121.9
Thu, 9:00 AM MST19Good2.521.8
Thu, 10:00 AM MST20Good2.522.9
Thu, 11:00 AM MST22Good2.325
Thu, 12:00 PM MST26Good2.528.1
Thu, 1:00 PM MST29Good3.731.7
Thu, 2:00 PM MST33Good2.436.2
Thu, 3:00 PM MST38Good3.241.1
Thu, 4:00 PM MST42Good4.345.4
Thu, 5:00 PM MST45Good4.549.5
Thu, 6:00 PM MST49Good353.3
Thu, 7:00 PM MST51Moderate4.155.2
Thu, 8:00 PM MST54Moderate3.356.2
Thu, 9:00 PM MST51Moderate4.455.8
Thu, 10:00 PM MST49Good3.653.7
Thu, 11:00 PM MST46Good450.4
Fri, 12:00 AM MST44Good3.647.6
Fri, 1:00 AM MST41Good3.844.8
Fri, 2:00 AM MST38Good6.141.5
Fri, 3:00 AM MST52Moderate1438.8
Fri, 4:00 AM MST56Moderate14.735.5
Fri, 5:00 AM MST48Good5.432.6

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 Sun City West in satellite imagery today.

NOAA’s model forecasts near-surface smoke peaking at 0.3 µg/m³ around Tue, 11:00 PM MST.

Smoke on the radar over Sun City West

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 Sun City WestWarnings in Maricopa CountyLive radar over Sun City WestArizona 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.