North Carolina air quality

Walnut Cove, North Carolina Air Quality

Stokes County36.295, -80.142

The nearest monitor to Walnut Cove, at Hattie Avenue, 14 miles away, measured an index of 52 at Mon, 2:00 PM EDT, which is Moderate for fine particles (PM2.5). Forsyth County Office of Environmental Assistance and Protection forecasts Moderate for Forsyth County-Winston-Salem-Greensboro-High Point today and Good tomorrow. NOAA’s analysts drew medium wildfire smoke over the town today.

Measured now
52 · Moderate
Today
54 · Moderate
Tomorrow
45 · Good
Pollutant
PM2.5

Fine particles on the map

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

Now

Moderate

Nearest monitor
Hattie Avenue, 14 miles away (site 370670022)
Index measured
52 · Moderate
Measured at
Mon, 2:00 PM EDT
Fine particles
11.1 µg/m³
Ozone
60 ppb
Reporting area
Forsyth County-Winston-Salem-Greensboro-High Point, NC, 17 miles away
Reported by
Forsyth County Office of Environmental Assistance and Protection
Area index
71 · Moderate

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
TomorrowGood45PM2.5
Wednesday, September 23Good39PM2.5
Thursday, September 24Good34Ozone

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.

Ozone levels have pushed higher into the code YELLOW range, early Monday afternoon, but will be kept in check by afternoon showers and thunderstorms. Particle pollution values are hovering along the GREEN/YELLOW border. A very unsettled pattern will develop through the forecasting period, as a backdoor cold front drops south through the region. Clouds, showers, and thunderstorms will dominate the weather, Tuesday, resulting in a return of code GREEN AQI levels. Wednesday and Thursday will be much cooler and rainy, leading to a continuation of GOOD air quality both days (GENTRY; gentrycd@forsyth.cc)

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 54, Moderate, around Mon, 2:00 PM EDT, from the run issued Mon, 8:00 AM EDT. This is a model, not a measurement.

HourIndexCategoryPM2.5Ozone
Mon, 10:00 AM EDT46Good8.6
Mon, 11:00 AM EDT48Good9.1
Mon, 12:00 PM EDT51Moderate10.5
Mon, 1:00 PM EDT53Moderate11.3
Mon, 2:00 PM EDT54Moderate11.4
Mon, 3:00 PM EDT54Moderate11.1
Mon, 4:00 PM EDT54Moderate10.442.8
Mon, 5:00 PM EDT53Moderate9.848.2
Mon, 6:00 PM EDT53Moderate10.253
Mon, 7:00 PM EDT53Moderate10.855.8
Mon, 8:00 PM EDT54Moderate10.256.5
Mon, 9:00 PM EDT51Moderate6.655.1
Mon, 10:00 PM EDT48Good4.952.8
Mon, 11:00 PM EDT45Good5.849.9
Tue, 12:00 AM EDT43Good7.346.2
Tue, 1:00 AM EDT41Good842.3
Tue, 2:00 AM EDT41Good7.438.3
Tue, 3:00 AM EDT39Good6.935.4
Tue, 4:00 AM EDT42Good7.933.8
Tue, 5:00 AM EDT46Good9.132.3
Tue, 6:00 AM EDT48Good9.130.8
Tue, 7:00 AM EDT42Good6.629.7
Tue, 8:00 AM EDT36Good5.129.1
Tue, 9:00 AM EDT29Good4.328.7
Tue, 10:00 AM EDT26Good4.128.2
Tue, 11:00 AM EDT26Good4.627.6
Tue, 12:00 PM EDT27Good5.327.1
Tue, 1:00 PM EDT27Good527.3
Tue, 2:00 PM EDT27Good4.728.2
Tue, 3:00 PM EDT28Good5.329.1
Tue, 4:00 PM EDT28Good4.730.3
Tue, 5:00 PM EDT29Good431.6
Tue, 6:00 PM EDT30Good4.332.6
Tue, 7:00 PM EDT30Good3.732.7
Tue, 8:00 PM EDT30Good4.132.4
Tue, 9:00 PM EDT30Good3.432.1
Tue, 10:00 PM EDT30Good3.232
Tue, 11:00 PM EDT28Good4.130.8
Wed, 12:00 AM EDT27Good5.229.6
Wed, 1:00 AM EDT32Good727.8
Wed, 2:00 AM EDT36Good7.326.1
Wed, 3:00 AM EDT38Good7.425.2
Wed, 4:00 AM EDT39Good7.124.6
Wed, 5:00 AM EDT40Good7.623.5
Wed, 6:00 AM EDT38Good6.422.2
Wed, 7:00 AM EDT31Good4.421.2
Wed, 8:00 AM EDT27Good4.120.1
Wed, 9:00 AM EDT23Good3.519.5
Wed, 10:00 AM EDT22Good3.919.4
Wed, 11:00 AM EDT21Good3.619.5
Wed, 12:00 PM EDT21Good3.919.6
Wed, 1:00 PM EDT20Good3.420
Wed, 2:00 PM EDT21Good3.820.3
Wed, 3:00 PM EDT22Good4.421
Wed, 4:00 PM EDT21Good3.721.5
Wed, 5:00 PM EDT20Good3.321.9
Wed, 6:00 PM EDT21Good4.322.3
Wed, 7:00 PM EDT21Good3.522.3
Wed, 8:00 PM EDT19Good321.7
Wed, 9:00 PM EDT21Good4.420.6
Wed, 10:00 PM EDT24Good5.119.7
Wed, 11:00 PM EDT29Good6.219.2
Thu, 12:00 AM EDT32Good6.419.3
Thu, 1:00 AM EDT36Good719.5
Thu, 2:00 AM EDT36Good6.419.5
Thu, 3:00 AM EDT35Good6.319.6
Thu, 4:00 AM EDT33Good5.820
Thu, 5:00 AM EDT33Good5.820.6
Thu, 6:00 AM EDT29Good4.820.9
Thu, 7:00 AM EDT23Good3.120.9
Thu, 8:00 AM EDT19Good2.320.4

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 Walnut Cove in satellite imagery today (Mon, 11:00 AM EDT to Mon, 1:00 PM 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 Mon, 2:00 AM EDT.

Smoke on the radar over Walnut Cove

What this means

Moderate

Air quality is acceptable. There may be a risk for some people, particularly those who are unusually sensitive to air pollution.

Who is affected
People who are unusually sensitive to ozone or fine particles.
What to do
If you are unusually sensitive, consider making long or intense outdoor activity shorter or easier.
Index range
51 to 100

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 Walnut CoveWarnings in Stokes CountyLive radar over Walnut CoveNorth 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.