For outdoor work in Northeast Ohio, a forecast, a current air-quality reading and an annual report answer different questions. Start with the location and time covered—not just a colored number or a report’s publication date.
NOACA forecasts ozone and fine-particle pollution and links readers to current readings and forecasts through its Air Quality Advisories page. Its annual trends reports describe past monitoring periods, not today’s conditions at a property.
Planning tomorrow and checking now are different tasks
AirNow distinguishes a forecast from its NowCast. A forecast predicts a day’s air quality; the NowCast estimates current conditions from the most recent available hour using a calculation involving several past hours. It is not a direct indoor measurement or a forecast of tomorrow. AirNow’s product explanation
Use this LSL comparison when sharing air-quality information with a service provider:
| Information | Keep attached to it | Useful for |
|---|---|---|
| Forecast | Location, forecast date, pollutant and any forecast discussion | Planning an upcoming outdoor activity |
| Current/NowCast reading | Location, displayed observation time, pollutant and category | Rechecking changing outdoor conditions before and during the planned period |
| Annual trends report | Observation year, geography and pollutant | Understanding historical regional patterns |
| Transportation conformity analysis | Planning document and analysis period | Understanding the assessed transportation plan—not deciding an individual worksite’s conditions |
AirNow advises checking forecasts again because conditions can change. Its forecast discussion may describe the expected timing of higher pollution. Do not forward a screenshot without its location and timestamp or treat the absence of a new message as evidence that conditions are unchanged. Forecast and NowCast limits
Use NOACA’s actual forecast route
The advisory page links near-real-time readings, forecasts and a free email-advisory signup. Follow the current links there to select the relevant area. LSL checked that public route, not a subscription, private notification or a specific location’s live AQI.
For a planned job, send the provider the dated forecast before scheduling and agree when to recheck current conditions. Keep the provider’s worker-protection decisions separate from a household member’s individualized health advice. This article sets no universal cancellation threshold and does not declare a particular day or property safe.
Read the year inside the annual report title
NOACA’s trends index lists the 2025 Air Quality Trends Report, published in April 2026. The publication year does not make its observations a 2026 forecast. The index covers Ashtabula, Cuyahoga, Geauga, Lake, Lorain, Medina, Portage and Summit counties and six criteria pollutants; that historical reporting scope is not a promise that every forecast or monitor represents every address equally.
The separate planning overview explains NOACA’s daily forecasting and transportation-conformity work. A transportation analysis belongs with its project/plan and analysis period, not in place of a current air-quality check.
What LSL checked
On September 20, 2026, LSL read NOACA’s planning, advisory and trends-index pages and AirNow’s product explanation. Direct retrieval succeeded after the research browser could not access NOACA. The earlier guide’s unnecessary 2023 general annual-report citation was replaced with the current product routes; no new historical pollutant statistics are claimed.
The comparison above is LSL’s source-reading aid. We did not measure indoor or outdoor air, validate a monitor, determine personal exposure, enroll in alerts or announce a live advisory.