California air quality

Sacramento County, California Air Quality

Sacramento County38.449, -121.344

The nearest monitor to Sacramento County, at Sloughhouse, 8 miles away, measured an index of 25 at Sat, 3:00 AM PDT, which is Good for ground-level ozone. Sacramento Metro. AQMD forecasts Good for Elk Grove today and Good tomorrow.

Measured now
25 · Good
Today
42 · Good
Tomorrow
39 · Good
Pollutant
Ozone

Fine particles on the map

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

Now

Good

Nearest monitor
Sloughhouse, 8 miles away (site 060675003)
Index measured
25 · Good
Measured at
Sat, 3:00 AM PDT
Fine particles
3 µg/m³
Ozone
30 ppb
Reporting area
Elk Grove, CA, 3 miles away
Reported by
Sacramento Metro. AQMD
Area index
31 · Good

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

Today and tomorrow

Sacramento Metro. AQMD's own forecast for Elk Grove, written by a forecaster rather than read off a model.

DayCategoryIndexPollutant
TodayGood42Ozone
TomorrowGood39Ozone
Monday, September 28Good44Ozone
Tuesday, September 29Moderate58Ozone
Wednesday, September 30Moderate67Ozone

The forecaster’s discussion

Written by Sacramento Metro. AQMD for Elk Grove and filed with AirNow.

Friday, light to moderate southerly to southwesterly winds will aid dispersion in the Sacramento region as a trough of low pressure moves onshore over the Pacific Northwest. Furthermore, slightly cooler temperatures will hinder ozone formation, leading to high-Good ozone levels. Saturday and Sunday, as the next trough of low pressure deepens offshore, atmospheric mixing will gradually improve. In addition, as temperatures continue to cool, ozone development will decrease. Therefore, despite light onshore winds limiting dispersion each day, ozone levels will be Good on both days.

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 43, Good, around Mon, 7:00 PM PDT, from the run issued Fri, 11:00 PM PDT. This is a model, not a measurement.

HourIndexCategoryPM2.5Ozone
Sat, 4:00 AM PDT28Good4.9
Sat, 5:00 AM PDT27Good4.6
Sat, 6:00 AM PDT25Good3.9
Sat, 7:00 AM PDT24Good4.519.4
Sat, 8:00 AM PDT25Good4.618.5
Sat, 9:00 AM PDT24Good4.118.1
Sat, 10:00 AM PDT23Good418.2
Sat, 11:00 AM PDT23Good4.419
Sat, 12:00 PM PDT19Good2.620.7
Sat, 1:00 PM PDT20Good2.322.9
Sat, 2:00 PM PDT23Good225.8
Sat, 3:00 PM PDT27Good1.829.3
Sat, 4:00 PM PDT31Good1.933.1
Sat, 5:00 PM PDT33Good3.636.9
Sat, 6:00 PM PDT37Good5.240.7
Sat, 7:00 PM PDT40Good4.743.4
Sat, 8:00 PM PDT41Good3.144.3
Sat, 9:00 PM PDT40Good443.7
Sat, 10:00 PM PDT39Good3.142.1
Sat, 11:00 PM PDT36Good1.639.8
Sun, 12:00 AM PDT34Good2.537.1
Sun, 1:00 AM PDT31Good333.9
Sun, 2:00 AM PDT28Good4.730.1
Sun, 3:00 AM PDT24Good4.126.9
Sun, 4:00 AM PDT22Good3.424.7
Sun, 5:00 AM PDT21Good3.723.4
Sun, 6:00 AM PDT20Good3.622.6
Sun, 7:00 AM PDT21Good422
Sun, 8:00 AM PDT23Good4.521.7
Sun, 9:00 AM PDT25Good4.921.8
Sun, 10:00 AM PDT24Good4.222.6
Sun, 11:00 AM PDT23Good423.8
Sun, 12:00 PM PDT23Good3.925.5
Sun, 1:00 PM PDT25Good3.927.7
Sun, 2:00 PM PDT28Good3.230.4
Sun, 3:00 PM PDT31Good3.333.5
Sun, 4:00 PM PDT33Good4.136.7
Sun, 5:00 PM PDT36Good5.239.6
Sun, 6:00 PM PDT38Good6.241.6
Sun, 7:00 PM PDT39Good5.542.6
Sun, 8:00 PM PDT39Good3.742.4
Sun, 9:00 PM PDT38Good541.2
Sun, 10:00 PM PDT36Good539.3
Sun, 11:00 PM PDT33Good4.237
Mon, 12:00 AM PDT31Good4.734.4
Mon, 1:00 AM PDT29Good531.7
Mon, 2:00 AM PDT31Good6.529.1
Mon, 3:00 AM PDT31Good5.827
Mon, 4:00 AM PDT33Good6.325.6
Mon, 5:00 AM PDT35Good6.824.4
Mon, 6:00 AM PDT31Good4.923.5
Mon, 7:00 AM PDT29Good522.6
Mon, 8:00 AM PDT31Good5.821.7
Mon, 9:00 AM PDT32Good6.421.2
Mon, 10:00 AM PDT36Good7.321.3
Mon, 11:00 AM PDT40Good8.221.9
Mon, 12:00 PM PDT38Good6.523.5
Mon, 1:00 PM PDT40Good7.726.2
Mon, 2:00 PM PDT37Good6.129.8
Mon, 3:00 PM PDT33Good4.933.8
Mon, 4:00 PM PDT34Good4.338
Mon, 5:00 PM PDT38Good4.641.7
Mon, 6:00 PM PDT41Good4.844.9
Mon, 7:00 PM PDT43Good4.746.8
Mon, 8:00 PM PDT43Good5.347
Mon, 9:00 PM PDT42Good646
Mon, 10:00 PM PDT40Good5.443.5
Mon, 11:00 PM PDT36Good4.739.9

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 Sacramento County in satellite imagery today.

NOAA’s model forecasts near-surface smoke peaking at 0.1 µg/m³ around Sat, 11:00 AM PDT.

Smoke on the radar over Sacramento County

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 Sacramento CountyWarnings in Sacramento CountyLive radar over Sacramento CountyCalifornia 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.