What is the pollen count in Valdosta today?

There is no free official pollen monitor for Valdosta. Open-Meteo's pollen forecast is Europe-only. Pollen & Smoke shows typical Georgia timing from UGA Extension and Georgia Southern, plus live air quality (AQI and PM2.5) which tracks smoke and haze, not tree pollen grains.

Is yellow dust pine pollen or smoke?

In late winter and spring the yellow film on cars is usually pine pollen. Smoke and haze raise PM2.5 and U.S. AQI. If AQI is elevated, check AirNow's Fire & Smoke map and Georgia burn-day status. Pine is highly visible; oak is often the stronger allergen.

Where does the AQI number come from?

Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) global forecasts, delivered by Open-Meteo. It is a model on a ~45 km grid, not a street-corner EPA monitor. AirNow.gov is the official U.S. NowCast source.

🍀 Pollen & Smoke

Is the air pine pollen, prescribed-burn smoke, or both? Live U.S. AQI and PM2.5 for South Georgia towns, NWS smoke alerts, and a typical pollen calendar. There is no free official pollen count for Valdosta — we will not invent one.

Town

Official AirNow ↗

NWS smoke & air-quality alerts

Typical pollen timing

If you smell smoke

Uncontrolled fire: call 911. Do not wait for a map.
Hotspots: Fire Watcher. Burn-day / fire danger: Burn Permit.
National smoke picture: AirNow Fire & Smoke map.
Sensitive groups (asthma, heart or lung disease, kids, older adults) should treat elevated PM2.5 like a bad-air day even when the sky looks merely hazy.

What is in the air over South Georgia today?

Pollen & Smoke splits two things people mix up every spring and every burn season. The yellow film on a truck in February is usually pine pollen. The scratchy throat on a still August afternoon with a brown horizon is often smoke or haze. This page gives you a live air-quality number for that second problem, and an honest calendar for the first.

There is no National Allergy Bureau station in Valdosta that we can quote for free. Open-Meteo’s pollen variables are Europe-only. Commercial pollen apps exist; we will not scrape them. What we can show live is U.S. AQI, PM2.5, PM10, dust, and ozone from the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service, plus any National Weather Service alert at your town that mentions smoke, air quality, haze, or a Red Flag Warning.

How to use it

Pick a town or share your location. Read the AQI card (EPA categories). If PM2.5 is elevated, follow the smoke hint to AirNow’s fire map, Fire Watcher, and Burn Permit — the model cannot tell a prescribed burn from a wildfire. Then check whether this month sits in a typical pollen window.

Where the data comes from

Air quality: CAMS global atmospheric composition via Open-Meteo (CC BY 4.0). About 45 km resolution, updated on CAMS’s schedule — not a downtown Valdosta monitor. Official NowCast AQI is AirNow.gov. Alerts: api.weather.gov. Pollen timing: UGA Extension (2016) citing Atlanta Allergy and Asthma Clinic, and Georgia Southern University (Harvey, 2025) on pine species timing and oak as the stronger allergen.

Common questions

Why won’t you show a pollen number?
Because a guessed “High” badge is worse than saying we do not have a station. If a free official US pollen feed appears, we will wire it and attribute it.

Does this replace Fire Watcher?
No. Fire Watcher maps satellite hotspots. This page tells you whether the air you are breathing is loaded with fine particles, which can happen with no hotspot overhead if smoke drifted in.

Related: Fire Watcher · Burn Permit · Storm Desk.