Maine air quality

South Portland, Maine Air Quality

Cumberland County43.642, -70.241

The nearest monitor to South Portland, at Portland Ocean Gateway, 1 mile away, measured an index of 23 at Sat, 1:00 PM EDT, which is Good for ground-level ozone. Maine Dept. of Environmental Protection forecasts Good for Southwest Coast today and Good tomorrow.

Measured now
23 · Good
Today
— · Good
Tomorrow
— · Good
Pollutant
Ozone

Fine particles on the map

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

Forecast fine particulate matter from NOAA’s National Air Quality Forecast Capability over South Portland, Maine 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 South Portland right now. All Maine warnings.

Now

Good

Nearest monitor
Portland Ocean Gateway, 1 mile away (site 840230056606)
Index measured
23 · Good
Measured at
Sat, 1:00 PM EDT
Fine particles
3.1 µg/m³
Ozone
24 ppb
Reporting area
Southwest Coast, ME, 2 miles away
Reported by
Maine Dept. of Environmental Protection
Area index
23 · Good

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

Today and tomorrow

Maine Dept. of Environmental Protection's own forecast for Southwest Coast, written by a forecaster rather than read off a model.

DayCategoryIndexPollutant
TodayGoodOzone
TomorrowGoodOzone
Monday, October 5GoodOzone
Tuesday, October 6GoodOzone

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 38, Good, around Mon, 1:00 PM EDT, from the run issued Sat, 8:00 AM EDT. This is a model, not a measurement.

HourIndexCategoryPM2.5Ozone
Sat, 2:00 PM EDT18Good3
Sat, 3:00 PM EDT18Good3.2
Sat, 4:00 PM EDT22Good3.824.3
Sat, 5:00 PM EDT22Good4.124.9
Sat, 6:00 PM EDT23Good4.725
Sat, 7:00 PM EDT26Good5.224.6
Sat, 8:00 PM EDT27Good5.224.3
Sat, 9:00 PM EDT28Good5.424
Sat, 10:00 PM EDT28Good5.123.4
Sat, 11:00 PM EDT29Good5.622.6
Sun, 12:00 AM EDT29Good5.221.7
Sun, 1:00 AM EDT27Good4.720.5
Sun, 2:00 AM EDT27Good4.919.4
Sun, 3:00 AM EDT27Good4.818.7
Sun, 4:00 AM EDT26Good4.218.1
Sun, 5:00 AM EDT26Good4.517.4
Sun, 6:00 AM EDT26Good4.417
Sun, 7:00 AM EDT25Good4.416.4
Sun, 8:00 AM EDT22Good3.515.8
Sun, 9:00 AM EDT22Good3.815.8
Sun, 10:00 AM EDT20Good3.316.4
Sun, 11:00 AM EDT19Good3.217.3
Sun, 12:00 PM EDT17Good2.518.5
Sun, 1:00 PM EDT18Good2.119.9
Sun, 2:00 PM EDT19Good2.521.4
Sun, 3:00 PM EDT21Good3.123.1
Sun, 4:00 PM EDT22Good3.824.7
Sun, 5:00 PM EDT23Good4.125.7
Sun, 6:00 PM EDT24Good4.925.7
Sun, 7:00 PM EDT26Good5.125.2
Sun, 8:00 PM EDT26Good4.924.5
Sun, 9:00 PM EDT28Good5.323.6
Sun, 10:00 PM EDT28Good5.222.8
Sun, 11:00 PM EDT29Good5.521.9
Mon, 12:00 AM EDT31Good6.121.2
Mon, 1:00 AM EDT33Good6.320.6
Mon, 2:00 AM EDT33Good5.920.3
Mon, 3:00 AM EDT33Good6.220.1
Mon, 4:00 AM EDT33Good619.7
Mon, 5:00 AM EDT33Good6.619.3
Mon, 6:00 AM EDT33Good5.718.4
Mon, 7:00 AM EDT32Good5.617.5
Mon, 8:00 AM EDT31Good516.9
Mon, 9:00 AM EDT29Good4.616.5
Mon, 10:00 AM EDT28Good4.516.4
Mon, 11:00 AM EDT32Good7.117
Mon, 12:00 PM EDT37Good7.818.6
Mon, 1:00 PM EDT38Good720.7
Mon, 2:00 PM EDT32Good4.423.5
Mon, 3:00 PM EDT24Good326.2
Mon, 4:00 PM EDT26Good2.628.5
Mon, 5:00 PM EDT28Good3.230
Mon, 6:00 PM EDT29Good4.231.4
Mon, 7:00 PM EDT29Good4.431.6
Mon, 8:00 PM EDT28Good4.330.7
Mon, 9:00 PM EDT27Good2.929.2
Mon, 10:00 PM EDT25Good2.327.3
Mon, 11:00 PM EDT23Good225.2
Tue, 12:00 AM EDT21Good2.423.6
Tue, 1:00 AM EDT20Good322.5
Tue, 2:00 AM EDT19Good3.421.5
Tue, 3:00 AM EDT19Good3.321.1
Tue, 4:00 AM EDT19Good2.921.1
Tue, 5:00 AM EDT19Good321.1
Tue, 6:00 AM EDT19Good2.621.4
Tue, 7:00 AM EDT19Good3.121.7
Tue, 8:00 AM EDT20Good2.622.2

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 South Portland 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 South Portland

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 South PortlandWarnings in Cumberland CountyLive radar over South PortlandMaine 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.