Virginia air quality

Ridgeway, Virginia Air Quality

Henry County36.577, -79.858

The nearest monitor to Ridgeway, at BETHANY, 19 miles away, measured an index of 46 at Sun, 3:00 PM EDT, which is Good for ground-level ozone. Forsyth County Office of Environmental Assistance and Protection forecasts Moderate for Forsyth County-Winston-Salem-Greensboro-High Point today and Moderate tomorrow. NOAA’s analysts drew medium wildfire smoke over the town today.

Measured now
46 · Good
Today
53 · Moderate
Tomorrow
61 · Moderate
Pollutant
Ozone

Fine particles on the map

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

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

Now

Good

Nearest monitor
BETHANY, 19 miles away (site 371570099)
Index measured
46 · Good
Measured at
Sun, 3:00 PM EDT
Ozone
51 ppb
Reporting area
Forsyth County-Winston-Salem-Greensboro-High Point, NC, 40 miles away
Reported by
Forsyth County Office of Environmental Assistance and Protection
Area index
46 · Good

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
TodayModerate53PM2.5
TomorrowModerate61Ozone
Tuesday, September 22Good45PM2.5
Wednesday, September 23Good39PM2.5

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.

Morning cloud cover has kept ozone production lower than expected, but sunnier skies this afternoon will likely allow ozone AQI to reach Code YELLOW. Particle pollution also remains elevated in the Code YELLOW range under a weakening surface high pressure ridge. Monday will likely be hot and humid for much of the day, allowing ozone and particle pollution levels to easily reach Codde YELLOW AQI for both pollutants. However, an advancing cold front from the north will likely bring scattered showers and storms to the Triad later in the afternoon and evening. Behind the front, air quality levels are expected to drop to Code GREEN by late Monday evening. Cold air damming begins to set up over the Triad and will settle over the region the next few days to bring cooler and cloudier conditions Tuesday and Wednesday. With that said, air quality levels will easily remain Code GREEN through mid-week as the cold air wedge takes hold. (Payne)

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 53, Moderate, around Sun, 11:00 AM EDT, from the run issued Sun, 8:00 AM EDT. This is a model, not a measurement.

HourIndexCategoryPM2.5Ozone
Sun, 10:00 AM EDT52Moderate10.3
Sun, 11:00 AM EDT53Moderate10.3
Sun, 12:00 PM EDT53Moderate10.2
Sun, 1:00 PM EDT53Moderate9.8
Sun, 2:00 PM EDT53Moderate10
Sun, 3:00 PM EDT52Moderate9.8
Sun, 4:00 PM EDT52Moderate8.839.1
Sun, 5:00 PM EDT52Moderate8.643.5
Sun, 6:00 PM EDT51Moderate8.246.9
Sun, 7:00 PM EDT50Good8.448.7
Sun, 8:00 PM EDT51Moderate9.649
Sun, 9:00 PM EDT51Moderate1048.1
Sun, 10:00 PM EDT52Moderate10.346.3
Sun, 11:00 PM EDT52Moderate10.544.1
Mon, 12:00 AM EDT52Moderate10.241.7
Mon, 1:00 AM EDT53Moderate10.738.7
Mon, 2:00 AM EDT53Moderate10.435.6
Mon, 3:00 AM EDT52Moderate8.533.1
Mon, 4:00 AM EDT49Good7.231
Mon, 5:00 AM EDT41Good6.129.6
Mon, 6:00 AM EDT36Good5.728.4
Mon, 7:00 AM EDT34Good627.2
Mon, 8:00 AM EDT34Good6.125.5
Mon, 9:00 AM EDT36Good724.6
Mon, 10:00 AM EDT43Good9.224.5
Mon, 11:00 AM EDT50Good10.425.1
Mon, 12:00 PM EDT52Moderate10.126.5
Mon, 1:00 PM EDT52Moderate9.529
Mon, 2:00 PM EDT52Moderate1032.3
Mon, 3:00 PM EDT52Moderate9.736.3
Mon, 4:00 PM EDT51Moderate8.741
Mon, 5:00 PM EDT49Good8.545
Mon, 6:00 PM EDT44Good6.947.5
Mon, 7:00 PM EDT44Good4.448.3
Mon, 8:00 PM EDT44Good3.648
Mon, 9:00 PM EDT43Good4.446.6
Mon, 10:00 PM EDT41Good5.244.4
Mon, 11:00 PM EDT38Good6.341.4
Tue, 12:00 AM EDT36Good7.237.6
Tue, 1:00 AM EDT42Good8.933.7
Tue, 2:00 AM EDT48Good9.930.5
Tue, 3:00 AM EDT51Moderate1027.8
Tue, 4:00 AM EDT52Moderate9.425.1
Tue, 5:00 AM EDT52Moderate10.221.5
Tue, 6:00 AM EDT53Moderate10.417.7
Tue, 7:00 AM EDT53Moderate10.214.7
Tue, 8:00 AM EDT52Moderate9.812.4
Tue, 9:00 AM EDT52Moderate9.111.2
Tue, 10:00 AM EDT52Moderate9.410.9
Tue, 11:00 AM EDT52Moderate9.711.3
Tue, 12:00 PM EDT52Moderate9.212.7
Tue, 1:00 PM EDT51Moderate8.415.4
Tue, 2:00 PM EDT51Moderate8.518.6
Tue, 3:00 PM EDT50Good8.521.8
Tue, 4:00 PM EDT47Good7.425
Tue, 5:00 PM EDT43Good6.927.7
Tue, 6:00 PM EDT39Good6.129.8
Tue, 7:00 PM EDT29Good3.731.2
Tue, 8:00 PM EDT29Good2.631.6
Tue, 9:00 PM EDT28Good4.530.7
Tue, 10:00 PM EDT27Good4.629.7
Tue, 11:00 PM EDT27Good5.428.5
Wed, 12:00 AM EDT28Good5.327
Wed, 1:00 AM EDT31Good5.925
Wed, 2:00 AM EDT30Good5.523.2
Wed, 3:00 AM EDT30Good5.421.5
Wed, 4:00 AM EDT28Good4.820.3
Wed, 5:00 AM EDT27Good4.719.9
Wed, 6:00 AM EDT24Good3.919.6
Wed, 7:00 AM EDT19Good2.619.1
Wed, 8:00 AM EDT17Good2.218.7

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 Hazard Mapping System analysts drew medium smoke over Ridgeway in satellite imagery today (Sun, 8:00 AM EDT to Sun, 11:00 AM EDT). That is smoke seen from above; it is not always smoke at ground level.

NOAA’s model forecasts near-surface smoke peaking at 0.7 µg/m³ around Mon, 4:00 PM EDT.

Smoke on the radar over Ridgeway

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 RidgewayWarnings in Henry CountyLive radar over RidgewayVirginia 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.