Covington, Washington Air Quality

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 Covington right now. All Washington warnings.

Moderate

Nearest monitor

Kent-S 236th, 7 miles away (site 840530330095)

Index measured

59 · Moderate

Measured at

Mon, 11:00 AM PDT

Fine particles

16 µg/m³

Reporting area

Cascade of east King-Pierce counties, WA, 17 miles away

Reported by

Puget Sound Clean Air Agency

Area index

34 · Good

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

Puget Sound Clean Air Agency's own forecast for Cascade of east King-Pierce counties, written by a forecaster rather than read off a model.

Written by Puget Sound Clean Air Agency for Cascade of east King-Pierce counties and filed with AirNow.

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

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.

NOAA’s Hazard Mapping System analysts drew light smoke over Covington in satellite imagery today (Mon, 5:00 AM PDT to Mon, 8:00 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 0.1 µg/m³ around Mon, 12:00 AM PDT.

Smoke on the radar over Covington

Moderate

Air quality is acceptable. There may be a risk for some people, particularly those who are unusually sensitive to air pollution.

Who is affected

People who are unusually sensitive to ozone or fine particles.

What to do

If you are unusually sensitive, consider making long or intense outdoor activity shorter or easier.

Index range

51 to 100

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.

The nearest towns with a page of their own, closest first.

• Lake Morton-Berrydale, WA2 miles
• Lea Hill, WA4 miles
• Maple Valley, WA4 miles
• East Hill-Meridian, WA4 miles
• Kent, WA6 miles
• Maple Heights-Lake Desire, WA6 miles
• Auburn, WA6 miles
• Fairwood, WA6 miles

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.