North Carolina air quality

High Point, North Carolina Air Quality

Guilford County35.956, -80.005

The nearest monitor to High Point, at Union Cross, 10 miles away, measured an index of 38 at Sun, 12:00 PM EDT, which is Good for ground-level ozone. Forsyth County Office of Environmental Assistance and Protection forecasts Moderate for Forsyth County-Winston-Salem-Greensboro-High Point today and Moderate tomorrow. NOAA’s analysts drew medium wildfire smoke over the town today.

Measured now
38 · Good
Today
54 · Moderate
Tomorrow
57 · Moderate
Pollutant
Ozone

Fine particles on the map

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

Forecast fine particulate matter from NOAA’s National Air Quality Forecast Capability over High Point, North Carolina 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 High Point right now. All North Carolina warnings.

Now

Good

Nearest monitor
Union Cross, 10 miles away (site 370671008)
Index measured
38 · Good
Measured at
Sun, 12:00 PM EDT
Ozone
40 ppb
Reporting area
Forsyth County-Winston-Salem-Greensboro-High Point, NC, 10 miles away
Reported by
Forsyth County Office of Environmental Assistance and Protection
Area index
43 · Good

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

Today and tomorrow

Forsyth County Office of Environmental Assistance and Protection's own forecast for Forsyth County-Winston-Salem-Greensboro-High Point, written by a forecaster rather than read off a model.

DayCategoryIndexPollutant
TodayModerate54Ozone
TomorrowModerate57PM2.5
Tuesday, September 22Good45PM2.5

The forecaster’s discussion

Written by Forsyth County Office of Environmental Assistance and Protection for Forsyth County-Winston-Salem-Greensboro-High Point and filed with AirNow.

Morning cloud cover has limited ozone production today in the Triad, keeping ozone AQI within the upper Code GREEN range (even if more sun makes it through the cloud deck this afternoon). Particle pollution continues to remain slightly elevated under the cloud deck and particle AQI should stay Code YELLOW for the day. Weak high pressure is expected to erode tomorrow as warm and moist air returns to the Triad, leading to Code YELLOW AQI for both pollutants. An advancing cold front approaches from the north on Monday, allowing pollution particles to accumulate ahead of the boundary. Timing of increased cloud cover and subsequent showers/storms will limit whether ozone levels reach Code GREEN (early arrival) vs Code YELLOW (later arrival). However, particle pollution concentrations will likely be elevated enough prior to frontal passage to keep air quality levels in the low Code YELLOW range. Cold air damming sets up in the wake of the departing front on Tuesday, with very welcomed cooler and cloudier conditions leading to Code GREEN AQI for both pollutants. (Payne)

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 56, Moderate, around Mon, 3:00 PM EDT, from the run issued Sun, 8:00 AM EDT. This is a model, not a measurement.

HourIndexCategoryPM2.5Ozone
Sun, 10:00 AM EDT52Moderate10.4
Sun, 11:00 AM EDT52Moderate10.3
Sun, 12:00 PM EDT53Moderate10.5
Sun, 1:00 PM EDT53Moderate10.2
Sun, 2:00 PM EDT53Moderate10
Sun, 3:00 PM EDT53Moderate11
Sun, 4:00 PM EDT53Moderate9.541.9
Sun, 5:00 PM EDT52Moderate9.146.3
Sun, 6:00 PM EDT52Moderate9.449.8
Sun, 7:00 PM EDT52Moderate9.151.4
Sun, 8:00 PM EDT52Moderate10.451.3
Sun, 9:00 PM EDT52Moderate10.249.2
Sun, 10:00 PM EDT52Moderate10.146.3
Sun, 11:00 PM EDT52Moderate9.943
Mon, 12:00 AM EDT52Moderate8.839.6
Mon, 1:00 AM EDT52Moderate8.936.2
Mon, 2:00 AM EDT50Good8.133.2
Mon, 3:00 AM EDT43Good6.331
Mon, 4:00 AM EDT37Good5.829.6
Mon, 5:00 AM EDT35Good5.829.3
Mon, 6:00 AM EDT36Good6.628.9
Mon, 7:00 AM EDT38Good7.328.5
Mon, 8:00 AM EDT38Good7.127.2
Mon, 9:00 AM EDT39Good7.326.3
Mon, 10:00 AM EDT44Good9.126.3
Mon, 11:00 AM EDT52Moderate11.327.4
Mon, 12:00 PM EDT53Moderate11.329.6
Mon, 1:00 PM EDT54Moderate11.132.8
Mon, 2:00 PM EDT55Moderate11.736.8
Mon, 3:00 PM EDT56Moderate12.141.1
Mon, 4:00 PM EDT54Moderate9.745.7
Mon, 5:00 PM EDT53Moderate9.349.2
Mon, 6:00 PM EDT52Moderate8.650.7
Mon, 7:00 PM EDT50Good8.550.6
Mon, 8:00 PM EDT50Good8.949.1
Mon, 9:00 PM EDT52Moderate1046.5
Mon, 10:00 PM EDT47Good7.244
Mon, 11:00 PM EDT41Good6.241.3
Tue, 12:00 AM EDT37Good5.938.3
Tue, 1:00 AM EDT38Good7.235.6
Tue, 2:00 AM EDT40Good7.633
Tue, 3:00 AM EDT41Good7.530.8
Tue, 4:00 AM EDT38Good6.229
Tue, 5:00 AM EDT37Good6.627.5
Tue, 6:00 AM EDT36Good6.325.3
Tue, 7:00 AM EDT36Good6.423.8
Tue, 8:00 AM EDT34Good5.822.3
Tue, 9:00 AM EDT33Good5.221.6
Tue, 10:00 AM EDT33Good6.322.1
Tue, 11:00 AM EDT35Good723.5
Tue, 12:00 PM EDT37Good7.125.5
Tue, 1:00 PM EDT37Good6.927.7
Tue, 2:00 PM EDT38Good7.429.5
Tue, 3:00 PM EDT46Good9.730.8
Tue, 4:00 PM EDT46Good8.333
Tue, 5:00 PM EDT44Good7.835
Tue, 6:00 PM EDT46Good8.636.6
Tue, 7:00 PM EDT41Good6.437
Tue, 8:00 PM EDT38Good6.436.1
Tue, 9:00 PM EDT42Good8.634.5
Tue, 10:00 PM EDT39Good6.233.5
Tue, 11:00 PM EDT39Good6.932.1
Wed, 12:00 AM EDT38Good6.630.1
Wed, 1:00 AM EDT39Good7.527.6
Wed, 2:00 AM EDT39Good7.324.8
Wed, 3:00 AM EDT39Good7.322.1
Wed, 4:00 AM EDT36Good5.520.4
Wed, 5:00 AM EDT33Good5.219.8
Wed, 6:00 AM EDT28Good4.419.3
Wed, 7:00 AM EDT22Good318.8
Wed, 8:00 AM EDT18Good2.618.3

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 medium smoke over High Point 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 0.5 µg/m³ around Sun, 10:00 AM EDT.

Smoke on the radar over High Point

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 High PointWarnings in Guilford CountyLive radar over High PointNorth Carolina 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.