Iowa air quality

Iowa Falls, Iowa Air Quality

Hardin County42.523, -93.251

The nearest reporting area, Waterloo, measured an index of 46 this hour, which is Good. Iowa DNR forecasts Moderate for Waterloo today and Good tomorrow.

Measured now
46 · Good
Today
51 · Moderate
Tomorrow
49 · Good
Pollutant
PM2.5

Fine particles on the map

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

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

Now

Good

Reporting area
Waterloo, IA, 43 miles away
Reported by
Iowa DNR
Area index
46 · Good

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

Today and tomorrow

Iowa DNR's own forecast for Waterloo, written by a forecaster rather than read off a model.

DayCategoryIndexPollutant
TodayModerate51PM2.5
TomorrowGood49PM2.5

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 51, Moderate, around Fri, 10:00 PM CDT, from the run issued Fri, 7:00 AM CDT. This is a model, not a measurement.

HourIndexCategoryPM2.5Ozone
Fri, 9:00 PM CDT49Good9.828.5
Fri, 10:00 PM CDT51Moderate1028.2
Fri, 11:00 PM CDT49Good8.327.4
Sat, 12:00 AM CDT47Good7.526.4
Sat, 1:00 AM CDT42Good6.125.5
Sat, 2:00 AM CDT37Good5.724.5
Sat, 3:00 AM CDT31Good4.923.6
Sat, 4:00 AM CDT29Good4.922.7
Sat, 5:00 AM CDT27Good4.422.2
Sat, 6:00 AM CDT30Good6.121.9
Sat, 7:00 AM CDT31Good5.621.8
Sat, 8:00 AM CDT33Good6.421.8
Sat, 9:00 AM CDT35Good6.821.9
Sat, 10:00 AM CDT33Good5.721.9
Sat, 11:00 AM CDT35Good6.722
Sat, 12:00 PM CDT36Good6.922.4
Sat, 1:00 PM CDT36Good6.522.9
Sat, 2:00 PM CDT38Good7.623.4
Sat, 3:00 PM CDT41Good7.823.9
Sat, 4:00 PM CDT42Good824.3
Sat, 5:00 PM CDT41Good7.524.5
Sat, 6:00 PM CDT41Good7.324.8
Sat, 7:00 PM CDT41Good7.725.1
Sat, 8:00 PM CDT41Good6.825.4
Sat, 9:00 PM CDT39Good6.425.4
Sat, 10:00 PM CDT39Good6.725.3
Sat, 11:00 PM CDT38Good6.425
Sun, 12:00 AM CDT39Good7.524.7
Sun, 1:00 AM CDT38Good6.524.5
Sun, 2:00 AM CDT37Good6.324.3
Sun, 3:00 AM CDT35Good5.624.2
Sun, 4:00 AM CDT33Good5.423.9
Sun, 5:00 AM CDT32Good5.223.8
Sun, 6:00 AM CDT29Good4.724
Sun, 7:00 AM CDT26Good4.223.9
Sun, 8:00 AM CDT24Good4.223.6
Sun, 9:00 AM CDT25Good4.523.4
Sun, 10:00 AM CDT23Good3.923.2
Sun, 11:00 AM CDT24Good4.623.4
Sun, 12:00 PM CDT25Good4.723.8
Sun, 1:00 PM CDT26Good4.824.4
Sun, 2:00 PM CDT28Good5.925
Sun, 3:00 PM CDT29Good5.425.9
Sun, 4:00 PM CDT30Good5.927.1
Sun, 5:00 PM CDT31Good5.728.3
Sun, 6:00 PM CDT31Good5.729.1
Sun, 7:00 PM CDT36Good7.529.4
Sun, 8:00 PM CDT36Good6.629.1
Sun, 9:00 PM CDT36Good6.428.7
Sun, 10:00 PM CDT37Good6.928
Sun, 11:00 PM CDT37Good7.126.8
Mon, 12:00 AM CDT42Good8.625.1
Mon, 1:00 AM CDT43Good8.123.1
Mon, 2:00 AM CDT43Good8.121.4
Mon, 3:00 AM CDT43Good7.720
Mon, 4:00 AM CDT41Good6.918.9
Mon, 5:00 AM CDT40Good6.917.9
Mon, 6:00 AM CDT42Good8.417
Mon, 7:00 AM CDT43Good816.8

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 Iowa Falls 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 Iowa Falls

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 Iowa FallsWarnings in Hardin CountyLive radar over Iowa FallsIowa 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.