Smog levels in Texas surge during heat wave, bringing worst summer air quality in a decade

The Austin skyline on Wednesday. Since the beginning of 2022, Texas air monitors have recorded 43 days as of July 12, 2022, when ozone concentrations were high enough somewhere in the state to be considered unhealthy by the Environmental Protection Agency. (Credit: Evan L'Roy/The Texas Tribune)

Texas has seen more days with unhealthy levels of smog pollution this year than it has in a decade, state data shows, as vehicle and industrial emissions react with record-high temperatures, spiking ozone concentrations.

Since the beginning of the year, Texas air monitors have recorded 43 days as of Tuesday when ozone concentrations were high enough somewhere in the state to be considered unhealthy by the Environmental Protection Agency. That’s double the number of unhealthy ozone days recorded by this time last year, and it’s the most in the period of January to mid-July since 2012, air monitoring data maintained by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality shows.