Pennsylvania air quality

Southwest Schuylkill, Pennsylvania Air Quality

Philadelphia County39.945, -75.204

The nearest monitor to Southwest Schuylkill, at RIT, 2 miles away, measured an index of 17 at Mon, 5:00 PM EDT, which is Good for fine particles (PM2.5). Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection forecasts Good for Philadelphia today and Good tomorrow. NOAA’s analysts drew light wildfire smoke over the town today.

Measured now
17 · Good
Today
34 · Good
Tomorrow
35 · Good
Pollutant
PM2.5

Fine particles on the map

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

Forecast fine particulate matter from NOAA’s National Air Quality Forecast Capability over Southwest Schuylkill, Pennsylvania 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 Southwest Schuylkill right now. All Pennsylvania warnings.

Now

Good

Nearest monitor
RIT, 2 miles away (site 421010055)
Index measured
17 · Good
Measured at
Mon, 5:00 PM EDT
Fine particles
3 µg/m³
Reporting area
Philadelphia, PA, 3 miles away
Reported by
Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection
Area index
32 · Good

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

Today and tomorrow

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

DayCategoryIndexPollutant
TodayGood34PM2.5
TomorrowGood35PM2.5
Wednesday, September 23Good35Ozone
Thursday, September 24GoodPM2.5

The forecaster’s discussion

Written by Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection for Philadelphia and filed with AirNow.

Current Conditions at 3 p.m. EDT this Monday afternoon: Low pressure over West Virginia will track eastward over the next few days and develop off the east coast later this week. This system will spread a cool rain across the area overnight into the day Tuesday. Here are the forecast details: *** Tuesday’s forecast: Overcast and cool with rainy periods Tuesday. Fine particle (PM2.5) and ozone concentrations will remain well down in the good range with an east to northeast wind. *** Extended forecast: There is some uncertainty as far as the progress of low pressure expected to develop off the east coast later this week. If the low remains far enough out to sea, skies will be partly sunny with a cool north to northeast wind. However, there is the chance for retrograding, and if this occurs, there will be more cloudiness and even the chance for showers. At any rate, air quality will remain good during the latter part of this week.---McAuliffe

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

HourIndexCategoryPM2.5Ozone
Mon, 10:00 AM EDT34Good5.9
Mon, 11:00 AM EDT32Good5.3
Mon, 12:00 PM EDT31Good5.3
Mon, 1:00 PM EDT31Good5.4
Mon, 2:00 PM EDT31Good5.7
Mon, 3:00 PM EDT34Good7.5
Mon, 4:00 PM EDT39Good8.234
Mon, 5:00 PM EDT41Good7.937.4
Mon, 6:00 PM EDT43Good8.539.8
Mon, 7:00 PM EDT50Good10.140.8
Mon, 8:00 PM EDT51Moderate9.340.5
Mon, 9:00 PM EDT44Good6.639.4
Mon, 10:00 PM EDT40Good6.437.8
Mon, 11:00 PM EDT35Good5.535.7
Tue, 12:00 AM EDT35Good6.233.4
Tue, 1:00 AM EDT34Good6.231.1
Tue, 2:00 AM EDT33Good5.929.2
Tue, 3:00 AM EDT33Good5.828.3
Tue, 4:00 AM EDT34Good6.628
Tue, 5:00 AM EDT34Good5.927.5
Tue, 6:00 AM EDT33Good5.827.2
Tue, 7:00 AM EDT33Good5.926.6
Tue, 8:00 AM EDT33Good6.225.6
Tue, 9:00 AM EDT33Good6.123.9
Tue, 10:00 AM EDT33Good5.821.5
Tue, 11:00 AM EDT31Good4.619.5
Tue, 12:00 PM EDT24Good3.417.9
Tue, 1:00 PM EDT19Good2.916.8
Tue, 2:00 PM EDT18Good315.6
Tue, 3:00 PM EDT20Good414.6
Tue, 4:00 PM EDT20Good3.713.7
Tue, 5:00 PM EDT18Good313.6
Tue, 6:00 PM EDT21Good4.113.8
Tue, 7:00 PM EDT23Good4.813.6
Tue, 8:00 PM EDT22Good3.913.6
Tue, 9:00 PM EDT18Good2.714
Tue, 10:00 PM EDT17Good2.714.7
Tue, 11:00 PM EDT14Good2.115.8
Wed, 12:00 AM EDT16Good2.817.2
Wed, 1:00 AM EDT17Good318.3
Wed, 2:00 AM EDT18Good2.919.2
Wed, 3:00 AM EDT19Good2.520.1
Wed, 4:00 AM EDT19Good2.820.5
Wed, 5:00 AM EDT19Good2.920
Wed, 6:00 AM EDT18Good3.419.3
Wed, 7:00 AM EDT17Good317.8
Wed, 8:00 AM EDT18Good3.516.2
Wed, 9:00 AM EDT22Good4.514.8
Wed, 10:00 AM EDT25Good5.213.7
Wed, 11:00 AM EDT25Good4.713.2
Wed, 12:00 PM EDT22Good3.613.4
Wed, 1:00 PM EDT20Good3.214.7
Wed, 2:00 PM EDT19Good3.316.4
Wed, 3:00 PM EDT22Good4.518.6
Wed, 4:00 PM EDT21Good3.820.9
Wed, 5:00 PM EDT20Good322.9
Wed, 6:00 PM EDT22Good3.324.4
Wed, 7:00 PM EDT23Good425.5
Wed, 8:00 PM EDT23Good4.925.9
Wed, 9:00 PM EDT25Good5.125
Wed, 10:00 PM EDT32Good6.823.4
Wed, 11:00 PM EDT30Good5.322
Thu, 12:00 AM EDT29Good5.220.9
Thu, 1:00 AM EDT27Good4.619.8
Thu, 2:00 AM EDT25Good4.218.9
Thu, 3:00 AM EDT24Good418.3
Thu, 4:00 AM EDT21Good3.417.9
Thu, 5:00 AM EDT19Good3.318
Thu, 6:00 AM EDT21Good3.918.3
Thu, 7:00 AM EDT22Good4.118.2
Thu, 8:00 AM EDT24Good4.817.6

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 Southwest Schuylkill 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 0.2 µg/m³ around Sun, 11:00 PM EDT.

Smoke on the radar over Southwest Schuylkill

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 Southwest SchuylkillWarnings in Philadelphia CountyLive radar over Southwest SchuylkillPennsylvania 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.