New Jersey air quality

Pleasant Plains, New Jersey Air Quality

Somerset County40.448, -74.558

The nearest monitor to Pleasant Plains, at Rutgers University, 7 miles away, measured an index of 18 at Sun, 1:00 PM EDT, which is Good for ground-level ozone. New Jersey Dept. of Environmental Protection forecasts Good for Central today and Good tomorrow. NOAA’s analysts drew light wildfire smoke over the town today.

Measured now
18 · Good
Today
35 · Good
Tomorrow
35 · Good
Pollutant
Ozone

Fine particles on the map

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

Forecast fine particulate matter from NOAA’s National Air Quality Forecast Capability over Pleasant Plains, New Jersey 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 Pleasant Plains right now. All New Jersey warnings.

Now

Good

Nearest monitor
Rutgers University, 7 miles away (site 340230011)
Index measured
18 · Good
Measured at
Sun, 1:00 PM EDT
Fine particles
0 µg/m³
Ozone
18 ppb
Reporting area
Central, NJ, 13 miles away
Reported by
New Jersey Dept. of Environmental Protection
Area index
34 · Good

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

Today and tomorrow

New Jersey Dept. of Environmental Protection's own forecast for Central, written by a forecaster rather than read off a model.

DayCategoryIndexPollutant
TodayGood35PM2.5
TomorrowGood35PM2.5

The forecaster’s discussion

Written by New Jersey Dept. of Environmental Protection for Central and filed with AirNow.

9/18 - A cold front passes through the region early Friday morning ushering in a drier and cooler airmass. Levels of fine particulates remain low moderate statewide, while ozone remains in the good category. 9/19 - Good air quality is expected across New Jersey on Saturday due to partly sunny skies and an onshore flow. 9/20 - Rainy conditions are forecast for Sunday as low pressure moves into the region keeping air quality in the good category statewide. 9/21 - A chance of rain lingers into Monday. Cloudy conditions, cooler temperatures, and a breezy onshore flow will keep air quality good.

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 Sun, 10:00 PM EDT, from the run issued Sun, 8:00 AM EDT. This is a model, not a measurement.

HourIndexCategoryPM2.5Ozone
Sun, 10:00 AM EDT8Good1.8
Sun, 11:00 AM EDT12Good2.6
Sun, 12:00 PM EDT9Good1.3
Sun, 1:00 PM EDT13Good3.2
Sun, 2:00 PM EDT19Good4.7
Sun, 3:00 PM EDT19Good3.3
Sun, 4:00 PM EDT21Good4.115.4
Sun, 5:00 PM EDT22Good4.215.4
Sun, 6:00 PM EDT28Good6.315.5
Sun, 7:00 PM EDT33Good6.815.7
Sun, 8:00 PM EDT39Good8.216.4
Sun, 9:00 PM EDT44Good8.817
Sun, 10:00 PM EDT51Moderate10.717.3
Sun, 11:00 PM EDT48Good818
Mon, 12:00 AM EDT43Good6.918.9
Mon, 1:00 AM EDT35Good519.8
Mon, 2:00 AM EDT31Good520.1
Mon, 3:00 AM EDT29Good5.119.9
Mon, 4:00 AM EDT33Good6.518.9
Mon, 5:00 AM EDT31Good5.218.3
Mon, 6:00 AM EDT28Good4.618.1
Mon, 7:00 AM EDT26Good4.218.1
Mon, 8:00 AM EDT24Good4.118.1
Mon, 9:00 AM EDT23Good4.218
Mon, 10:00 AM EDT19Good2.717.9
Mon, 11:00 AM EDT16Good2.317.8
Mon, 12:00 PM EDT17Good1.718.2
Mon, 1:00 PM EDT17Good2.818.4
Mon, 2:00 PM EDT18Good419
Mon, 3:00 PM EDT24Good5.519.1
Mon, 4:00 PM EDT32Good7.119.1
Mon, 5:00 PM EDT34Good6.718.5
Mon, 6:00 PM EDT40Good8.418.3
Mon, 7:00 PM EDT41Good7.618.4
Mon, 8:00 PM EDT42Good7.718.8
Mon, 9:00 PM EDT42Good7.518.7
Mon, 10:00 PM EDT41Good7.418.2
Mon, 11:00 PM EDT48Good9.817.5
Tue, 12:00 AM EDT48Good8.916.8
Tue, 1:00 AM EDT43Good716.7
Tue, 2:00 AM EDT42Good7.216.7
Tue, 3:00 AM EDT43Good7.816.6
Tue, 4:00 AM EDT45Good9.116.3
Tue, 5:00 AM EDT46Good8.516.4
Tue, 6:00 AM EDT44Good7.716.1
Tue, 7:00 AM EDT42Good6.515.7
Tue, 8:00 AM EDT36Good5.615.1
Tue, 9:00 AM EDT30Good4.613.7
Tue, 10:00 AM EDT28Good4.812.5
Tue, 11:00 AM EDT28Good5.311.6
Tue, 12:00 PM EDT23Good3.310.7
Tue, 1:00 PM EDT18Good2.29.9
Tue, 2:00 PM EDT14Good1.89.6
Tue, 3:00 PM EDT12Good29.8
Tue, 4:00 PM EDT14Good2.810.2
Tue, 5:00 PM EDT13Good2.210.8
Tue, 6:00 PM EDT16Good3.511.2
Tue, 7:00 PM EDT21Good4.611.4
Tue, 8:00 PM EDT19Good3.311.6
Tue, 9:00 PM EDT18Good3.111.3
Tue, 10:00 PM EDT22Good4.810.4
Tue, 11:00 PM EDT31Good79.4
Wed, 12:00 AM EDT33Good6.59.1
Wed, 1:00 AM EDT28Good4.39
Wed, 2:00 AM EDT24Good3.69
Wed, 3:00 AM EDT22Good3.68.8
Wed, 4:00 AM EDT22Good48.7
Wed, 5:00 AM EDT21Good3.88.9
Wed, 6:00 AM EDT19Good3.39.6
Wed, 7:00 AM EDT18Good310
Wed, 8:00 AM EDT17Good2.910.1

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 Hazard Mapping System analysts drew light smoke over Pleasant Plains in satellite imagery today (Sun, 8:00 AM EDT to Sun, 11:00 AM EDT). That is smoke seen from above; it is not always smoke at ground level.

NOAA’s model forecasts near-surface smoke peaking at 0.1 µg/m³ around Sun, 9:00 PM EDT.

Smoke on the radar over Pleasant Plains

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 Pleasant PlainsWarnings in Somerset CountyLive radar over Pleasant PlainsNew Jersey 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.