Oklahoma air quality

Pawnee, Oklahoma Air Quality

Pawnee County36.338, -96.804

The nearest monitor to Pawnee, at Ponca City, 29 miles away, measured an index of 30 at Sun, 8:00 PM CDT, which is Good for fine particles (PM2.5). Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality forecasts Moderate for Tulsa today and Good tomorrow.

Measured now
30 · Good
Today
60 · Moderate
Tomorrow
50 · Good
Pollutant
PM2.5

Fine particles on the map

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

Forecast fine particulate matter from NOAA’s National Air Quality Forecast Capability over Pawnee, Oklahoma 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 Pawnee right now. All Oklahoma warnings.

Now

Good

Nearest monitor
Ponca City, 29 miles away (site 400710604)
Index measured
30 · Good
Measured at
Sun, 8:00 PM CDT
Fine particles
5.6 µg/m³
Reporting area
Tulsa, OK, 48 miles away
Reported by
Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality
Area index
48 · Good

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

Today and tomorrow

Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality's own forecast for Tulsa, written by a forecaster rather than read off a model.

DayCategoryIndexPollutant
TodayModerate60Ozone
TomorrowGood50Ozone
Tuesday, September 22Good50Ozone
Wednesday, September 23Moderate60Ozone

The forecaster’s discussion

Written by Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality for Tulsa 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.

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 Wed, 7:00 AM CDT, from the run issued Sun, 7:00 AM CDT. This is a model, not a measurement.

HourIndexCategoryPM2.5Ozone
Sun, 9:00 AM CDT46Good8.3
Sun, 10:00 AM CDT46Good8.2
Sun, 11:00 AM CDT43Good6.8
Sun, 12:00 PM CDT36Good5.1
Sun, 1:00 PM CDT33Good5.1
Sun, 2:00 PM CDT32Good5.3
Sun, 3:00 PM CDT34Good4.637.4
Sun, 4:00 PM CDT37Good4.640.4
Sun, 5:00 PM CDT40Good4.843.1
Sun, 6:00 PM CDT42Good4.545.4
Sun, 7:00 PM CDT43Good3.747
Sun, 8:00 PM CDT44Good4.147.4
Sun, 9:00 PM CDT44Good3.747.1
Sun, 10:00 PM CDT43Good3.846.1
Sun, 11:00 PM CDT41Good3.644.2
Mon, 12:00 AM CDT38Good3.841.6
Mon, 1:00 AM CDT35Good3.839
Mon, 2:00 AM CDT33Good4.436.5
Mon, 3:00 AM CDT31Good4.734.4
Mon, 4:00 AM CDT30Good4.332.9
Mon, 5:00 AM CDT29Good3.731.6
Mon, 6:00 AM CDT28Good3.630.9
Mon, 7:00 AM CDT28Good4.930.3
Mon, 8:00 AM CDT27Good4.929.7
Mon, 9:00 AM CDT29Good6.428.4
Mon, 10:00 AM CDT33Good6.926.5
Mon, 11:00 AM CDT35Good6.624.9
Mon, 12:00 PM CDT35Good6.523.9
Mon, 1:00 PM CDT37Good6.923.7
Mon, 2:00 PM CDT36Good6.523.7
Mon, 3:00 PM CDT34Good624.3
Mon, 4:00 PM CDT33Good5.725.3
Mon, 5:00 PM CDT31Good5.327.4
Mon, 6:00 PM CDT29Good4.530
Mon, 7:00 PM CDT30Good4.232.3
Mon, 8:00 PM CDT31Good4.333.7
Mon, 9:00 PM CDT31Good4.234.6
Mon, 10:00 PM CDT31Good5.234.8
Mon, 11:00 PM CDT31Good634.6
Tue, 12:00 AM CDT32Good6.634.1
Tue, 1:00 AM CDT36Good7.332.8
Tue, 2:00 AM CDT39Good7.731
Tue, 3:00 AM CDT41Good7.728.9
Tue, 4:00 AM CDT43Good8.126.9
Tue, 5:00 AM CDT45Good8.524.7
Tue, 6:00 AM CDT48Good9.323
Tue, 7:00 AM CDT53Moderate11.521.2
Tue, 8:00 AM CDT53Moderate10.620
Tue, 9:00 AM CDT53Moderate10.519.4
Tue, 10:00 AM CDT53Moderate9.919.7
Tue, 11:00 AM CDT52Moderate920.9
Tue, 12:00 PM CDT49Good7.322.9
Tue, 1:00 PM CDT45Good7.125.4
Tue, 2:00 PM CDT42Good6.928.2
Tue, 3:00 PM CDT40Good6.831.6
Tue, 4:00 PM CDT38Good6.734.7
Tue, 5:00 PM CDT38Good6.737.7
Tue, 6:00 PM CDT38Good740.2
Tue, 7:00 PM CDT39Good7.541.9
Tue, 8:00 PM CDT41Good7.742.5
Tue, 9:00 PM CDT39Good6.542.6
Tue, 10:00 PM CDT39Good7.442
Tue, 11:00 PM CDT41Good8.340.9
Wed, 12:00 AM CDT43Good939.2
Wed, 1:00 AM CDT48Good1037
Wed, 2:00 AM CDT52Moderate1134.3
Wed, 3:00 AM CDT54Moderate11.531.5
Wed, 4:00 AM CDT54Moderate11.529.1
Wed, 5:00 AM CDT55Moderate11.526.8
Wed, 6:00 AM CDT55Moderate11.624.8
Wed, 7:00 AM CDT56Moderate12.322.7

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 Pawnee in satellite imagery today.

NOAA’s model forecasts near-surface smoke peaking at 0.9 µg/m³ around Sat, 11:00 PM CDT.

Smoke on the radar over Pawnee

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 PawneeWarnings in Pawnee CountyLive radar over PawneeOklahoma 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.