Delaware air quality

Milton, Delaware Air Quality

Sussex County38.778, -75.310

The nearest monitor to Milton, at LEWES, 8 miles away, measured an index of 25 at Wed, 7:00 AM EDT, which is Good for ground-level ozone. Delaware Dept. of Natural Resources and Environment forecasts Good for Sussex County today and Good tomorrow.

Measured now
25 · Good
Today
30 · Good
Tomorrow
33 · Good
Pollutant
Ozone

Fine particles on the map

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

Forecast fine particulate matter from NOAA’s National Air Quality Forecast Capability over Milton, Delaware 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 Milton right now. All Delaware warnings.

Now

Good

Nearest monitor
LEWES, 8 miles away (site 100051003)
Index measured
25 · Good
Measured at
Wed, 7:00 AM EDT
Ozone
29 ppb
Reporting area
Sussex County, DE, 7 miles away
Reported by
Delaware Dept. of Natural Resources and Environment
Area index
25 · Good

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

Today and tomorrow

Delaware Dept. of Natural Resources and Environment's own forecast for Sussex County, written by a forecaster rather than read off a model.

DayCategoryIndexPollutant
TodayGood30Ozone
TomorrowGood33Ozone
Friday, September 25Good37Ozone

The forecaster’s discussion

Written by Delaware Dept. of Natural Resources and Environment for Sussex County and filed with AirNow.

Wednesday, September 23 through Friday, September 25: As a surface low gradually strengthens offshore, and a surface high remains anchored to the north, gusty northeasterly winds will aid dispersion and transport clean air into the Mid-Atlantic each day. In addition, partly to mostly cloudy skies and cool temperatures will hinder ozone development. As a result, AQI levels are anticipated to be Good for ozone and PM2.5 on all three 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 36, Good, around Fri, 8:00 PM EDT, from the run issued Wed, 2:00 AM EDT. This is a model, not a measurement.

HourIndexCategoryPM2.5Ozone
Wed, 4:00 AM EDT10Good1.6
Wed, 5:00 AM EDT8Good1.3
Wed, 6:00 AM EDT8Good1.3
Wed, 7:00 AM EDT7Good1.4
Wed, 8:00 AM EDT8Good1.5
Wed, 9:00 AM EDT8Good1.6
Wed, 10:00 AM EDT27Good1.829.2
Wed, 11:00 AM EDT26Good2.229
Wed, 12:00 PM EDT26Good2.228.5
Wed, 1:00 PM EDT26Good2.128.1
Wed, 2:00 PM EDT25Good1.827.2
Wed, 3:00 PM EDT24Good2.226.2
Wed, 4:00 PM EDT23Good2.425.1
Wed, 5:00 PM EDT22Good2.124.5
Wed, 6:00 PM EDT22Good224.3
Wed, 7:00 PM EDT22Good2.224.1
Wed, 8:00 PM EDT22Good2.424.1
Wed, 9:00 PM EDT21Good1.223.4
Wed, 10:00 PM EDT20Good1.423
Wed, 11:00 PM EDT20Good1.722.9
Thu, 12:00 AM EDT21Good223
Thu, 1:00 AM EDT20Good2.222.9
Thu, 2:00 AM EDT20Good1.922.7
Thu, 3:00 AM EDT20Good222.8
Thu, 4:00 AM EDT21Good1.823.3
Thu, 5:00 AM EDT22Good1.824.5
Thu, 6:00 AM EDT23Good1.725.5
Thu, 7:00 AM EDT24Good1.326.4
Thu, 8:00 AM EDT24Good1.426.9
Thu, 9:00 AM EDT25Good1.427.3
Thu, 10:00 AM EDT25Good1.327.9
Thu, 11:00 AM EDT26Good1.528.1
Thu, 12:00 PM EDT25Good1.527.8
Thu, 1:00 PM EDT25Good1.227.5
Thu, 2:00 PM EDT25Good1.227.3
Thu, 3:00 PM EDT25Good1.427
Thu, 4:00 PM EDT25Good1.727.1
Thu, 5:00 PM EDT25Good1.827.6
Thu, 6:00 PM EDT26Good1.928.2
Thu, 7:00 PM EDT26Good2.128.9
Thu, 8:00 PM EDT27Good229.4
Thu, 9:00 PM EDT27Good0.529.2
Thu, 10:00 PM EDT27Good0.829
Thu, 11:00 PM EDT26Good128.8
Fri, 12:00 AM EDT26Good128.6
Fri, 1:00 AM EDT25Good1.327.8
Fri, 2:00 AM EDT24Good1.427
Fri, 3:00 AM EDT24Good1.626.1
Fri, 4:00 AM EDT23Good1.825.8
Fri, 5:00 AM EDT23Good226
Fri, 6:00 AM EDT23Good1.725.7
Fri, 7:00 AM EDT23Good1.825.2
Fri, 8:00 AM EDT22Good1.724.1
Fri, 9:00 AM EDT21Good2.123.5
Fri, 10:00 AM EDT21Good2.523
Fri, 11:00 AM EDT20Good322.9
Fri, 12:00 PM EDT20Good3.222.5
Fri, 1:00 PM EDT21Good323.1
Fri, 2:00 PM EDT22Good324.7
Fri, 3:00 PM EDT25Good2.927.3
Fri, 4:00 PM EDT28Good2.730.5
Fri, 5:00 PM EDT31Good2.633.6
Fri, 6:00 PM EDT33Good3.336.3
Fri, 7:00 PM EDT35Good4.338.1
Fri, 8:00 PM EDT36Good4.439.3
Fri, 9:00 PM EDT36Good3.240
Fri, 10:00 PM EDT36Good3.439.8
Fri, 11:00 PM EDT35Good3.438.8
Sat, 12:00 AM EDT33Good3.536.7
Sat, 1:00 AM EDT31Good4.134
Sat, 2:00 AM EDT29Good4.631.2

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 Milton in satellite imagery today.

NOAA’s model forecasts no measurable smoke near the ground here over the next two days.

Smoke on the radar over Milton

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 MiltonWarnings in Sussex CountyLive radar over MiltonDelaware 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.