Texas air quality

Houston, Texas Air Quality

Harris County29.763, -95.363

The nearest monitor to Houston, at Houston Harvard Street, 2 miles away, measured an index of 31 at Sun, 9:00 AM CDT, which is Good for ground-level ozone. Texas Commission on Environmental Quality forecasts Moderate for Houston-Galveston-Brazoria today and Moderate tomorrow.

Measured now
31 · Good
Today
— · Moderate
Tomorrow
— · Moderate
Pollutant
Ozone

Fine particles on the map

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

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

Now

Good

Nearest monitor
Houston Harvard Street, 2 miles away (site 840482010417)
Index measured
31 · Good
Measured at
Sun, 9:00 AM CDT
Ozone
34 ppb
Reporting area
Houston-Galveston-Brazoria, TX, 1 mile away
Reported by
Texas Commission on Environmental Quality
Area index
64 · Moderate

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

Today and tomorrow

Texas Commission on Environmental Quality's own forecast for Houston-Galveston-Brazoria, written by a forecaster rather than read off a model.

DayCategoryIndexPollutant
TodayModerateOzone
TomorrowModerateOzone
Tuesday, September 22ModerateOzone

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 84, Moderate, around Tue, 7:00 PM CDT, from the run issued Sun, 1:00 AM CDT. This is a model, not a measurement.

HourIndexCategoryPM2.5Ozone
Sun, 3:00 AM CDT29Good4.8
Sun, 4:00 AM CDT27Good4.4
Sun, 5:00 AM CDT28Good5.3
Sun, 6:00 AM CDT31Good6.6
Sun, 7:00 AM CDT36Good7.4
Sun, 8:00 AM CDT37Good7.2
Sun, 9:00 AM CDT37Good6.49.6
Sun, 10:00 AM CDT44Good9.310.2
Sun, 11:00 AM CDT49Good9.712.1
Sun, 12:00 PM CDT50Good9.314.8
Sun, 1:00 PM CDT51Moderate9.519.2
Sun, 2:00 PM CDT51Moderate9.424.6
Sun, 3:00 PM CDT50Good8.730.6
Sun, 4:00 PM CDT48Good8.237.3
Sun, 5:00 PM CDT43Good6.343.3
Sun, 6:00 PM CDT44Good6.847.5
Sun, 7:00 PM CDT46Good7.750
Sun, 8:00 PM CDT46Good5.850.3
Sun, 9:00 PM CDT44Good547.7
Sun, 10:00 PM CDT40Good5.243.8
Sun, 11:00 PM CDT36Good4.239.7
Mon, 12:00 AM CDT32Good2.935.2
Mon, 1:00 AM CDT28Good2.830.8
Mon, 2:00 AM CDT24Good3.226.4
Mon, 3:00 AM CDT20Good3.322.2
Mon, 4:00 AM CDT19Good3.719.2
Mon, 5:00 AM CDT21Good417.3
Mon, 6:00 AM CDT26Good5.615.7
Mon, 7:00 AM CDT29Good6.113.5
Mon, 8:00 AM CDT29Good5.311.1
Mon, 9:00 AM CDT31Good5.79.4
Mon, 10:00 AM CDT41Good9.49.6
Mon, 11:00 AM CDT48Good9.811.3
Mon, 12:00 PM CDT51Moderate9.814.5
Mon, 1:00 PM CDT53Moderate11.519.9
Mon, 2:00 PM CDT53Moderate10.626.5
Mon, 3:00 PM CDT53Moderate10.533.8
Mon, 4:00 PM CDT55Moderate11.641.8
Mon, 5:00 PM CDT54Moderate10.948.8
Mon, 6:00 PM CDT54Moderate10.154
Mon, 7:00 PM CDT54Moderate10.456.7
Mon, 8:00 PM CDT54Moderate10.756.1
Mon, 9:00 PM CDT52Moderate8.153.1
Mon, 10:00 PM CDT45Good5.849.6
Mon, 11:00 PM CDT42Good445.4
Tue, 12:00 AM CDT37Good3.740
Tue, 1:00 AM CDT31Good3.434.2
Tue, 2:00 AM CDT26Good5.128.1
Tue, 3:00 AM CDT25Good4.623.4
Tue, 4:00 AM CDT24Good4.220.6
Tue, 5:00 AM CDT27Good5.318.3
Tue, 6:00 AM CDT34Good7.615.1
Tue, 7:00 AM CDT43Good9.411.7
Tue, 8:00 AM CDT48Good9.78.9
Tue, 9:00 AM CDT46Good7.67.7
Tue, 10:00 AM CDT52Moderate10.78.4
Tue, 11:00 AM CDT52Moderate10.111.6
Tue, 12:00 PM CDT52Moderate9.117
Tue, 1:00 PM CDT53Moderate11.424.1
Tue, 2:00 PM CDT55Moderate11.832.2
Tue, 3:00 PM CDT54Moderate10.340.8
Tue, 4:00 PM CDT54Moderate11.149.4
Tue, 5:00 PM CDT54Moderate9.256.7
Tue, 6:00 PM CDT74Moderate9.662.5
Tue, 7:00 PM CDT84Moderate13.165.7
Tue, 8:00 PM CDT80Moderate1764.7
Tue, 9:00 PM CDT67Moderate13.960.1
Tue, 10:00 PM CDT57Moderate10.555
Tue, 11:00 PM CDT53Moderate8.650.1
Wed, 12:00 AM CDT51Moderate7.944.9
Wed, 1:00 AM CDT46Good7.539.6

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 analysts have not drawn smoke over Houston in satellite imagery today.

NOAA’s model forecasts near-surface smoke peaking at 0.2 µg/m³ around Mon, 2:00 PM CDT.

Smoke on the radar over Houston

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 HoustonWarnings in Harris CountyLive radar over HoustonTexas 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.