Air Quality Forecast
Air quality forecasts are issued every day of the year for the Birmingham area and are based on the Air Quality Index (AQI). The AQI is a color-coded scale that reports how clean or polluted the air is and the associated health effects.
The Jefferson County Department of Health forecasts fine particles (PM2.5) year-round and the Alabama Department of Environmental Management forecasts Ozone (O3) during the warm season.
An Air Quality Alert is issued when the AQI is forecast to reach 101 or higher. The public is encouraged to decrease their personal emissions on days with higher pollution levels.
Saturday-Tuesday: The weather will remain unsettled over the holiday weekend and into the start of next week. There will be several shortwaves that will move through the area and a southerly flow that will keep pumping moisture into the area. This will create mostly cloudy to overcast skies and a high chance for rain through Tuesday. These weather conditions are expected to put PM2.5 and Ozone in the green (good) range of the AQI through Tuesday.
May 21, 2026
|
Ozone |
|
|
35 |
|
|
GOOD |
|
Pollutant AQI Value
|
2 |
|
|
16 |
|
|
35 |
|
|
33 |
|
16 |
|
|
2 |
|
Air quality forecasts are also available via
JCDH Air Quality on