Triad Air Quality

Triad Forecast

Synopsis and Discussion

Particle pollution levels continue to reside in the lower Code YELLOW range today as particulate matter concentrations remained trapped under cloudy skies with an elevated particle pollution source region to the south feeding directly north into the Triad. Ozone levels, however, continue to remain well within the Code GREEN range and will continue to do so into the evening. An upper level trough digging in from the northwest will pinch off from the main upper level flow pattern and becomes a cut-off upper level low that will continue to keep skies mostly cloudy with periodic showers through the day tomorrow to drop AQI to Code GREEN for all pollutants. Tropical Storm Helene has formed in the western Caribbean and is forecasted to quickly develop into a hurricane at it tracks northward into the Gulf of Mexico, interacting with the cut-off upper level low to bring pre-landfall precipitation to the area Thursday, lowering AQI well into the low to middle Code GREEN range. Helene is forecasted to become a major hurricane as it makes landfall along the Florida panhandle Thursday night, quickly moving northward into the southern Appalachians by Friday morning. This will put the Triad within the right side of the center of circulation, bringing widespread heavy showers and gusty winds through the day Friday---with air quality being of minimal concern in comparison to the effects of Helene. (Payne)

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Air Monitoring Data

The Forsyth County Office of Environmental Assistance and Protection is making data available from the county's air monitoring network as a public service. These data represent the hourly data set from all of the sites within this network. Data from Triad sites outside of Forsyth County are collected by the North Carolina Division of Air Quality.

Reports

• Current Hourly Data
• Yesterday's Data & Calibration Report
• Simple Key for Reading Data File