California air quality

El Cerrito, California Air Quality

Contra Costa County37.916, -122.312

The nearest monitor to El Cerrito, at Berkeley Aquatic Park, 4 miles away, measured an index of 41 at Tue, 9:00 AM PDT, which is Good for fine particles (PM2.5). Bay Area Air District forecasts Moderate for Oakland today and Moderate tomorrow.

Measured now
41 · Good
Today
53 · Moderate
Tomorrow
53 · Moderate
Pollutant
PM2.5

Fine particles on the map

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

Forecast fine particulate matter from NOAA’s National Air Quality Forecast Capability over El Cerrito, California 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 El Cerrito right now. All California warnings.

Now

Good

Nearest monitor
Berkeley Aquatic Park, 4 miles away (site 060010013)
Index measured
41 · Good
Measured at
Tue, 9:00 AM PDT
Fine particles
9 µg/m³
Ozone
17 ppb
Reporting area
Oakland, CA, 8 miles away
Reported by
Bay Area Air District
Area index
41 · Good

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

Today and tomorrow

Bay Area Air District's own forecast for Oakland, written by a forecaster rather than read off a model.

DayCategoryIndexPollutant
TodayModerate53PM2.5
TomorrowModerate53PM2.5
Thursday, September 24ModeratePM2.5
Friday, September 25GoodPM2.5
Saturday, September 26GoodPM2.5
Sunday, September 27GoodPM2.5

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 52, Moderate, around Wed, 4:00 PM PDT, from the run issued Tue, 5:00 AM PDT. This is a model, not a measurement.

HourIndexCategoryPM2.5Ozone
Tue, 7:00 AM PDT26Good4.9
Tue, 8:00 AM PDT26Good4.7
Tue, 9:00 AM PDT27Good5.3
Tue, 10:00 AM PDT28Good5.7
Tue, 11:00 AM PDT32Good6.7
Tue, 12:00 PM PDT33Good6.4
Tue, 1:00 PM PDT37Good7.618.6
Tue, 2:00 PM PDT39Good7.620
Tue, 3:00 PM PDT43Good8.322.6
Tue, 4:00 PM PDT40Good6.725.1
Tue, 5:00 PM PDT38Good6.426.4
Tue, 6:00 PM PDT40Good7.827.1
Tue, 7:00 PM PDT36Good5.727.2
Tue, 8:00 PM PDT34Good5.426.5
Tue, 9:00 PM PDT34Good6.325.1
Tue, 10:00 PM PDT36Good6.623.6
Tue, 11:00 PM PDT36Good6.421.9
Wed, 12:00 AM PDT37Good7.120.3
Wed, 1:00 AM PDT39Good8.119
Wed, 2:00 AM PDT41Good7.917.8
Wed, 3:00 AM PDT41Good7.716.6
Wed, 4:00 AM PDT41Good716.1
Wed, 5:00 AM PDT41Good7.815.6
Wed, 6:00 AM PDT39Good6.614.8
Wed, 7:00 AM PDT41Good813.7
Wed, 8:00 AM PDT43Good8.912.2
Wed, 9:00 AM PDT50Good10.611.3
Wed, 10:00 AM PDT50Good9.111
Wed, 11:00 AM PDT49Good8.911.7
Wed, 12:00 PM PDT47Good7.813.5
Wed, 1:00 PM PDT48Good8.916.3
Wed, 2:00 PM PDT45Good7.420.1
Wed, 3:00 PM PDT47Good9.124.7
Wed, 4:00 PM PDT52Moderate1130.2
Wed, 5:00 PM PDT51Moderate9.234.9
Wed, 6:00 PM PDT52Moderate10.938.1
Wed, 7:00 PM PDT52Moderate9.339.5
Wed, 8:00 PM PDT52Moderate9.438.4
Wed, 9:00 PM PDT52Moderate9.135.9
Wed, 10:00 PM PDT49Good8.232.5
Wed, 11:00 PM PDT48Good7.928.4
Thu, 12:00 AM PDT48Good923.8
Thu, 1:00 AM PDT50Good9.719.2
Thu, 2:00 AM PDT51Moderate10.215.1
Thu, 3:00 AM PDT52Moderate10.311.9
Thu, 4:00 AM PDT52Moderate9.610.2
Thu, 5:00 AM PDT52Moderate8.99.2
Thu, 6:00 AM PDT51Moderate8.68.1
Thu, 7:00 AM PDT51Moderate8.87.2
Thu, 8:00 AM PDT51Moderate9.46.5
Thu, 9:00 AM PDT51Moderate9.96.9
Thu, 10:00 AM PDT51Moderate8.48.3
Thu, 11:00 AM PDT50Good8.810.5
Thu, 12:00 PM PDT47Good7.313
Thu, 1:00 PM PDT42Good6.315.4
Thu, 2:00 PM PDT34Good5.218.2
Thu, 3:00 PM PDT34Good6.221.1
Thu, 4:00 PM PDT29Good4.423.6
Thu, 5:00 PM PDT23Good2.525.4
Thu, 6:00 PM PDT24Good4.326.1
Thu, 7:00 PM PDT23Good3.625.8
Thu, 8:00 PM PDT23Good3.525.2
Thu, 9:00 PM PDT22Good3.124.4
Thu, 10:00 PM PDT21Good3.223.6
Thu, 11:00 PM PDT20Good3.522.5
Fri, 12:00 AM PDT19Good3.421.4
Fri, 1:00 AM PDT19Good2.820.3
Fri, 2:00 AM PDT18Good2.819.4
Fri, 3:00 AM PDT17Good2.418.8
Fri, 4:00 AM PDT17Good2.218.3
Fri, 5:00 AM PDT17Good218

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 El Cerrito in satellite imagery today.

NOAA’s model forecasts near-surface smoke peaking at 1 µg/m³ around Wed, 10:00 AM PDT.

Smoke on the radar over El Cerrito

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 El CerritoWarnings in Contra Costa CountyLive radar over El CerritoCalifornia 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.