Washington air quality

Cle Elum, Washington Air Quality

Kittitas County47.195, -120.939

The nearest monitor to Cle Elum, at Cle Elum, under a mile away, measured an index of 18 at Sun, 6:00 PM PDT, which is Good for fine particles (PM2.5). Washington Department of Ecology forecasts Good for Ellensburg today and Good tomorrow. NOAA’s analysts drew light wildfire smoke over the town today.

Measured now
18 · Good
Today
— · Good
Tomorrow
— · Good
Pollutant
PM2.5

Fine particles on the map

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

Forecast fine particulate matter from NOAA’s National Air Quality Forecast Capability over Cle Elum, Washington 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 Cle Elum right now. All Washington warnings.

Now

Good

Nearest monitor
Cle Elum, under a mile away (site 840530370180)
Index measured
18 · Good
Measured at
Sun, 6:00 PM PDT
Fine particles
3.1 µg/m³
Reporting area
Ellensburg, WA, 23 miles away
Reported by
Washington Department of Ecology
Area index
38 · Good

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

Today and tomorrow

Washington Department of Ecology's own forecast for Ellensburg, written by a forecaster rather than read off a model.

DayCategoryIndexPollutant
TodayGoodPM2.5
TomorrowGoodPM2.5
Tuesday, September 22GoodPM2.5
Wednesday, September 23GoodPM2.5
Thursday, September 24GoodPM2.5

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 64, Moderate, around Mon, 9:00 AM PDT, from the run issued Sun, 5:00 AM PDT. This is a model, not a measurement.

HourIndexCategoryPM2.5Ozone
Sun, 7:00 AM PDT60Moderate12.7
Sun, 8:00 AM PDT58Moderate12
Sun, 9:00 AM PDT58Moderate13.1
Sun, 10:00 AM PDT55Moderate9.2
Sun, 11:00 AM PDT58Moderate15.2
Sun, 12:00 PM PDT57Moderate11.4
Sun, 1:00 PM PDT50Good5.925.8
Sun, 2:00 PM PDT36Good427
Sun, 3:00 PM PDT29Good4.228.5
Sun, 4:00 PM PDT28Good4.830.1
Sun, 5:00 PM PDT29Good5.231.5
Sun, 6:00 PM PDT30Good3.332.9
Sun, 7:00 PM PDT31Good3.633.8
Sun, 8:00 PM PDT31Good4.533.9
Sun, 9:00 PM PDT31Good5.533.2
Sun, 10:00 PM PDT32Good6.732.5
Sun, 11:00 PM PDT37Good7.631.4
Mon, 12:00 AM PDT39Good7.630.2
Mon, 1:00 AM PDT43Good8.329
Mon, 2:00 AM PDT51Moderate10.627.2
Mon, 3:00 AM PDT53Moderate11.725.6
Mon, 4:00 AM PDT57Moderate1424.5
Mon, 5:00 AM PDT56Moderate11.624
Mon, 6:00 AM PDT56Moderate11.523.5
Mon, 7:00 AM PDT58Moderate13.523.2
Mon, 8:00 AM PDT62Moderate17.922.8
Mon, 9:00 AM PDT64Moderate16.822.6
Mon, 10:00 AM PDT63Moderate14.922.9
Mon, 11:00 AM PDT61Moderate14.123.8
Mon, 12:00 PM PDT58Moderate11.225
Mon, 1:00 PM PDT55Moderate9.426.2
Mon, 2:00 PM PDT52Moderate7.727.5
Mon, 3:00 PM PDT52Moderate9.529
Mon, 4:00 PM PDT51Moderate8.930.9
Mon, 5:00 PM PDT52Moderate10.233.3
Mon, 6:00 PM PDT53Moderate11.135.7
Mon, 7:00 PM PDT55Moderate12.337.5
Mon, 8:00 PM PDT56Moderate11.938.4
Mon, 9:00 PM PDT53Moderate8.938.7
Mon, 10:00 PM PDT51Moderate7.938.8
Mon, 11:00 PM PDT39Good5.238.7
Tue, 12:00 AM PDT35Good2.238.3
Tue, 1:00 AM PDT34Good237.3
Tue, 2:00 AM PDT32Good1.835.5
Tue, 3:00 AM PDT31Good1.733.2
Tue, 4:00 AM PDT29Good1.531.1
Tue, 5:00 AM PDT27Good1.329.2
Tue, 6:00 AM PDT25Good127.1
Tue, 7:00 AM PDT23Good0.725
Tue, 8:00 AM PDT21Good0.523.3
Tue, 9:00 AM PDT19Good0.322
Tue, 10:00 AM PDT19Good0.121.4
Tue, 11:00 AM PDT19Good0.321.9
Tue, 12:00 PM PDT20Good0.323
Tue, 1:00 PM PDT22Good0.324.4
Tue, 2:00 PM PDT24Good0.326.2
Tue, 3:00 PM PDT25Good0.327.9
Tue, 4:00 PM PDT27Good0.429.4
Tue, 5:00 PM PDT28Good0.930.6
Tue, 6:00 PM PDT29Good0.531.6
Tue, 7:00 PM PDT30Good0.732.2
Tue, 8:00 PM PDT30Good0.432.1
Tue, 9:00 PM PDT29Good0.331.5
Tue, 10:00 PM PDT28Good0.330.7
Tue, 11:00 PM PDT27Good0.329.7
Wed, 12:00 AM PDT26Good0.328.4
Wed, 1:00 AM PDT24Good0.326.9
Wed, 2:00 AM PDT23Good0.325
Wed, 3:00 AM PDT20Good0.322.9
Wed, 4:00 AM PDT19Good0.321.4
Wed, 5:00 AM PDT19Good0.320.2

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 Cle Elum in satellite imagery today (Sun, 8:00 AM PDT to Sun, 10:00 AM PDT). That is smoke seen from above; it is not always smoke at ground level.

NOAA’s model forecasts near-surface smoke peaking at 0.4 µg/m³ around Mon, 7:00 AM PDT.

Smoke on the radar over Cle Elum

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 Cle ElumWarnings in Kittitas CountyLive radar over Cle ElumWashington 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.