Recent Posts

A photo of the sun rising over trees in Cabarrus County

Rain Returns and Pollen Proliferates in a Warm March

It was a record wet March in parts of North Carolina, while the entire state experienced warm temperatures and the corresponding arrival of pollen season...
A photo of sunrise over the Pasquotank River on June 16

Smoke and Storms Fill the Skies in June

Cool and at times smoky conditions continued in June, while a week of showers and storms reversed the dry pattern we started the month with....
A photo of a smoky haze over Winston-Salem on June 6

Rapid Reaction: Smoky Skies Create Unhealthy Air Quality

Our summer started not with sun but smoke last week, which yielded the most widespread hazardous air quality episode seen in many years across the...
A screenshot of the Air Quality Portal dashboard containing air quality and weather forecasts

Air Quality Updates: What to Watch for in 2022

That feeling of spring in the air will soon be joined by powdery puffs of pollen, some sniffs of smoke, and potentially even occasional unhealthy...
A screenshot of the AIR tool showing hourly PM2.5 concentrations, winds, and a satellite-derived smoke analysis at 3 pm on July 21, 2021

AIR Tool Offers Air Quality and Weather Data, in Detail

The State Climate Office and the North Carolina Division of Air Quality (NCDAQ) have partnered to build a new monitoring tool for those times when...
April 2019 Summary

April’s Weather Includes Thunderstorms, Pollen Storms

Across the state, April saw wet weather including tornado-producing storms, increasing temperatures, and a yellow cloud covering the landscape thanks to a springtime pollen-pocalypse. Rain...

Clearing the Air: A Discussion with Air Quality Forecasters

Today, our look at the state of air quality in North Carolina concludes with the third guest post by the meteorologists from the NC Division...