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Oklahoma Air Quality

McAlester is the worst air in Oklahoma right now at an index of 46, which is Good, from fine particles (PM2.5). AirNow carries 10 reporting areas in the state. No air quality alert is in force. Wildfire smoke has been drawn over 39 of the state’s towns today.

Reporting areas: 10
Worst index now: 46
Alerts in force: 0
Towns under smoke: 39

Fine particles on the map

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

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 in Oklahoma right now. All Oklahoma warnings.

By city, now and the days ahead10

Every AirNow reporting area in Oklahoma: what its monitors measured this hour, and what the state or local agency that forecasts for it expects today and tomorrow. Each area links to the nearest town’s page.

Reporting area	Now	Category now	Today	Tomorrow	Pollutant
McAlester	46	Good	Good	Good	PM2.5
Miami	46	Good	Not forecast	Not forecast	PM2.5
Tulsa	46	Good	Good	Good	PM2.5
Oklahoma City	43	Good	Good	Good	PM2.5
Lawton	30	Good	Good	Good	Ozone
Ardmore	27	Good	Good	Good	PM2.5
Woodward	25	Good	Good	Good	PM2.5
Roland	23	Good	Not forecast	Not forecast	Ozone
Pryor	18	Good	Not forecast	Not forecast	Ozone
Stilwell	18	Good	Not forecast	Not forecast	Ozone

The forecaster’s discussion

Written by Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality for McAlester and filed with AirNow.

Hot southerly breezes will continue to bring northward Saharan dust. Meanwhile, a lack of rain desiccates vegetation, leaves little water to evaporate, and allows incoming solar radiation to heat the surface very effectively. Therefore, very high fire danger persists, and any fires may produce locally unhealthy smoke. Sufficient moisture aloft, steady breezes, and diurnal cumulus convection in the afternoon will limit ozone to the moderate category. Meanwhile, monsoonal moisture will bring scattered rain showers to the Panhandle through the forecast period. Early next week, a cold front will spread isolated thunderstorms to the rest of the state, and temperatures will drop significantly but stay above normal. Afterward, easterly flow with moisture, clouds, and virga aloft will impede ozone formation, but a frontal inversion and episodic sunshine enhance ozone concentrations.

Smoke

Where NOAA’s Hazard Mapping System analysts have drawn wildfire smoke over Oklahoma in today’s satellite imagery. Smoke drawn overhead is not always smoke at ground level; each town’s page carries the near-surface forecast.

Light Tulsa, Broken Arrow, Muskogee, Bartlesville, Owasso, Shawnee, Ardmore, Bixby, Jenks, Sapulpa, Sand Springs, Claremore, McAlester, Ada, Durant, Tahlequah and 23 more

Smoke on the radar over Oklahoma

What this means

The index runs from 0 to 500. Good is 0 to 50, Moderate to 100, Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups to 150, Unhealthy to 200, Very Unhealthy to 300, and Hazardous above that. The figure reported for a place is the highest index among the pollutants measured there, and the pollutant that produced it is named beside it.

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.

Towns

Air quality for any town in Oklahoma: what is measured nearby, the category forecast for today and tomorrow, and NOAA’s model hour by hour. Largest first.

39 smaller towns

Smaller places have pages too; search for one on the air quality landing page.

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.