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South County Air Quality

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The Nipomo Mesa is located in an area that is impacted by periods of high particulate matter concentrations. To keep the public informed of periods of deteriorating air quality, the APCD provides a daily air quality forecast for SLO County. SLO County is partitioned into nine air quality forecast zones, and an air quality forecast for a six-day period is provided for each zone. APCD has an increased concentration of monitoring stations In the Nipomo Mesa area. There are four forecast zones as shown in the map below, and are named CDF, MESA2, NRP and SLO.

Below are links to help you better understand the current and forecasted air quality in southern SLO County.  

Air Quality Index 6-Day Forecast  - The table on the page linked that is labeled "Air Quality Index Six Day Forecast" shows you a table of the APCD Monitoring Station names and the communities or regions associated with those montioring stations. For example, If you live in Pismo Beach, your home would be most closely associated with the San Luis Obispo monitoring station.  

Current Air Quality Conditions (NowCast AQI) - The US EPA has developed the NowCast AQI to bridge the gap between the official AQI scale, which is based on 8-hour or 24-hour measurements, and short-term, hourly pollutant values that are reported in real-time. The “Current Air Quality Conditions” that appear on the forecast page and airnow.gov are NowCast AQI values.

AQI and Your Health - APCD has developed a webpage that provides a detailed explanation of what the AQI is, where to get the best information to protect your health, health impacts and details the difference between forecasts, current air quality and sensors. 

Zoom in on the map below to see where your location/home is & the associated monitoring station.

If you would like to manually type in a specific address, click the square in the top right hand corner of the map to open the Google Map in full screen. Once there, click the magnifying glass (search button) in the top left red bar. From there, you should be able to type in an address and determine which forecast zone you are in. If you need help, or have questions, please call us at 805-781-5912 and someone can assist. 

In May 2021, the below forecast zones were updated to better reflect air quality conditions after extensive studies. To see the study related to the change in forecast zones, click here

For more information on South County air quality, blowing dust events and more, click here

Please be advised that using third-party (websites not hosted by the SLO County APCD, California Air Resources Board or EPA) air quality information sites, might not provide the most accurate information.

Want to sign up to receive Air Quality Alerts when there are blowing dust alerts issued, wildfire smoke impacts and more? Sign up here for our AirAware text notification system!