Deer Park Air Quality — Live AQI & Health Guidance

How to read this data

The EPA's Air Quality Index (AQI) converts measurements of five major pollutants — ozone, particulate matter (PM2.5 and PM10), carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen dioxide — onto a single 0-to-500 scale. Lower is better. The number you see for "Deer Park AQI" reflects whichever pollutant is currently the worst in the Houston-Galveston-Brazoria region.

• 0–50 (Good): Air quality is satisfactory; little or no risk.
• 51–100 (Moderate): Acceptable, but unusually sensitive people may experience symptoms.
• 101–150 (Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups): Children, older adults, people with asthma or heart disease should limit prolonged outdoor exertion.
• 151–200 (Unhealthy): Everyone may begin to experience effects; sensitive groups, more serious effects.
• 201–300 (Very Unhealthy): Health alert. Avoid outdoor activity.
• 301+ (Hazardous): Emergency conditions. Stay inside.

What to do during a refinery release or shelter-in-place

Deer Park is one of the few U.S. cities with city-wide outdoor sirens for industrial emergencies. If you hear them, or you receive a Deer Park ISD or City of Deer Park alert:

1. Go inside. Bring pets in.
2. Close all windows and doors.
3. Turn off A/C, heating, ventilation, and any exhaust fans.
4. Tune to a local alert channel — KTRH 740 AM, ABC13, or the City of Deer Park's website.
5. Stay inside until you hear the all-clear.

The City of Deer Park and Deer Park ISD publish detailed shelter-in-place guidance. We also keep a kid-friendly safety checklist on our companion kids' page.

Monitoring stations near Deer Park

TCEQ operates continuous air monitoring stations across the Ship Channel corridor. The nearest stations to Deer Park include:

• Deer Park C35 / 235 / 1003 (auto-GC and TCEQ CAMS): located within Deer Park city limits, measure ozone, NOx, SO₂, and a wide range of volatile organic compounds.
• Channelview C15: across the channel, monitors PM2.5 and meteorology.
• Lynchburg Ferry / Galena Park C603: downstream Ship Channel sites that catch fenceline emissions.

For pollutant-specific exceedances near a particular facility, the TCEQ Air Emission Event Report (EER) tool is the public record of self-reported releases — searchable by date and county.

Frequently asked questions

What's a "good" AQI for Deer Park?

Below 50 (Good) is unrestricted. Below 100 (Moderate) is normal for this region in summer because of ozone formation in Houston heat — most healthy adults will not notice anything.

Why does Deer Park air quality sometimes spike?

The most common drivers are summer ozone (sunlight reacting with regional emissions), Saharan dust events (May–August), wildfire smoke transported from Mexico or the Western U.S., and — less often but locally significant — flaring or unplanned releases at Ship Channel refineries and chemical plants.

Where can I report a smell or visible plume?

For non-emergency complaints: TCEQ complaint form or call the TCEQ regional office (Region 12 covers Houston). For active emergencies, call 911. To report an EPA-level violation: epa.gov/report-environmental-violations.

Is the air quality data on this page official?

The numbers above come directly from the EPA AirNow public feed, which aggregates TCEQ data. We do not modify or buffer the values. If AirNow is down, we display the most recent successful read; if all sources are down, we show a fallback baseline. The authoritative live source is airnow.gov.