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Albuquerque, NM UV Index Today

Modelled for · GMT-6

What is the UV index in Albuquerque right now?

2.3 Low

EPA describes low UV as needing no protection for most people.

Today's peak is 7.6 (Very High) at about 1pm local time.

When is UV strongest in Albuquerque today?

UV in Albuquerque peaks at 7.6 (Very High) around 1pm local time (GMT-6). It stays at 6 or above — the high band — for 2 hours, roughly 12pm to 2pm. UV is 3 or above for 6 hours.

Local time, midnight to midnight. Bar colour is the EPA UV band, never restyled.

Albuquerque today, in numbers

Latitude
35.1°N — 89 of 121 from the north
Today's peak
7.6 (Very High) — 38 of 121 nationally
Peak arrives
1pm local (GMT-6)
At or above 6
2 hours, 12pm to 2pm
At or above 3
6 hours, 10am to 4pm

The window from 12pm to 2pm is the practical answer for Albuquerque today. Nationally today the spread runs 11.4 in Hilo (20°N) to 1.3 in Fargo (47°N). Why latitude and the clock decide this →

Afternoon monsoon buildup moves the daily peak

From July into September, Albuquerque manufactures its own interruption. The North American monsoon pushes moisture north, convection builds over the Sandia Mountains — the fault-block range rising to 10,678 feet directly east of the city — and the cells drift out over the basin through the afternoon. On a monsoon day the clearest sky is the morning, and the peak arrives before the buildup rather than during it, which inverts the ordinary assumption that mid-afternoon is the worst of it. That pattern is what holds the July and August numbers below what a cloudless high-desert day here would give.

The rest of the year has no such brake. At 35.1 degrees north Albuquerque is within a third of a degree of Bakersfield, but Bakersfield is on a valley floor a few hundred feet up and Albuquerque is above 5,000, and the difference in the depth of atmosphere overhead runs in Albuquerque’s favor on every date.

The seasonal drop is shallower here than at northern metros, because the low sun is not as low. At the December solstice the noon sun still stands about 31 degrees above the horizon, against roughly 19 degrees in Spokane — twelve degrees of separation between two cities in the same country on the same day.

Nearest metros we model

UV changes with latitude, not with a city boundary, so a neighbour a hundred miles north reads differently for a reason.

Colorado Springs, CO 278 mi · 38.8°N peak 8.1 Tucson, AZ 317 mi · 32.2°N peak 9.1 Scottsdale, AZ 319 mi · 33.5°N peak 8.3

What does Albuquerque’s UV index mean today?

2.3 is Low. EPA describes low UV as needing no protection for most people. Today Albuquerque also reaches Very High at its peak — a different band from the one it is in right now, which is why the hour matters as much as the day.

The scale is open-ended: 11 is where the named bands stop, not the maximum. All five bands, with the EPA guidance for each →

Modelled, not measured

The UV figures for Albuquerque are computed by the Copernicus atmosphere model, not read off an instrument here — unlike the AQI on our air-quality pages, which comes from a regulatory monitor. Cloud is where a UV model is weakest. What that means in practice →

Questions about UV in Albuquerque

What is the UV index in Albuquerque today?

2.3 right now (Low), peaking at 7.6 around 1pm local time. UV stays at 6 or above for 2 hours, from about 12pm to 2pm. This is a modelled value, not a ground measurement.

When is UV strongest in Albuquerque today?

Around 1pm local time (GMT-6), not at noon — solar noon drifts across a timezone and daylight saving moves it later on the clock.

Is this measured or modelled?

Modelled. The figures come from the Copernicus atmosphere model via Open-Meteo, unlike the AQI on our air-quality pages, which is read from an EPA regulatory monitor. Cloud cover is where a UV model is weakest.

Albuquerque air qualityThe AQI, from a regulatory monitor rather than a model UV across the USWhere Albuquerque sits against every metro we track

Updated