A plain-language read on the air over Marfa — fine particles, and on a hazy day whether it's blown dust or wildfire smoke. Updated through the day.
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A plain-language read on the air over Marfa — the fine-particle level, and on a hazy day whether it's coarse blown dust or fine smoke. Out here the air is usually clean and wide open; this page is for spotting the days it isn't.
Fair Fine for being outside, including exercise, for almost everyone.
| Day | Air quality |
|---|---|
| Thu 30 Jul | Fair |
| Fri 31 Jul | Fair |
| Sat 1 Aug | Fair |
| Sun 2 Aug | Fair |
The Marfa Plateau is high, dry grassland, and the spring winds lift dust off bare ground and dirt roads. On a blowing-dust day the coarse-particle (PM10) reading climbs while the fine-particle (PM2.5) reading may stay lower — the tool shows both, and says which one is driving the haze, so you can tell a dust day from a smoke day.
Grass and brush fires are a recurring risk across the Big Bend and the Davis Mountains, and smoke from larger fires — in West Texas, New Mexico or across the border in Chihuahua — can drift in and settle over the basin for a day or two. That smoke is fine particles (PM2.5), the kind that reaches deep into the lungs, and it can push the reading up even when the sky looks only lightly hazy.
Fine-particle pollution and blowing dust are hardest on children, older people, and anyone with asthma or a heart or lung condition. On a high-reading day it helps to keep hard outdoor work or exercise for a cleaner window, and to keep windows shut when dust is blowing or smoke has moved in. If you can smell smoke or see a dust wall, believe your senses over any number.
There is no permanent public air-quality monitor in Marfa, so this reading comes from a satellite-fed model of the area, not a sensor in town. Treat it as a guide to the trend and the bad days. When smoke or dust is heavy, the official AirNow page and the National Weather Service in Midland carry any alerts.
Updated . These are modelled estimates for the area around Marfa, not readings from a street monitor — air right beside a busy road can be worse than the area-wide picture. Official forecast: airnow.gov. Air quality data by Open-Meteo (CC BY 4.0), based on Copernicus CAMS.