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Columbia, SC UV Index Today

Modelled for · GMT-4

What is the UV index in Columbia right now?

0.6 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 Columbia today?

UV in Columbia peaks at 7.6 (Very High) around 1pm local time (GMT-4). It stays at 6 or above — the high band — for 3 hours, roughly 12pm to 3pm. UV is 3 or above for 7 hours.

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

Columbia today, in numbers

Latitude
34.0°N — 93 of 121 from the north
Today's peak
7.6 (Very High) — 40 of 121 nationally
Peak arrives
1pm local (GMT-4)
At or above 6
3 hours, 12pm to 3pm
At or above 3
7 hours, 10am to 5pm

The window from 12pm to 3pm is the practical answer for Columbia 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 →

Midlands Afternoons Without the Coastal Cloud

Columbia sits about a hundred miles inland at the fall line, where the Piedmont steps down into the Sandhills, roughly 290 feet above sea level. At 34 degrees north it is more than a degree farther from the equator than the South Carolina coast, which by sun angle alone should hand it slightly less ultraviolet than Charleston on the same date.

The heat that the city is known for is a separate quantity, and it peaks at a different hour. South Carolina’s highest measured temperature, 113 degrees, was set in Columbia on June 29, 2012. Ultraviolet follows the sun and tops out near solar noon, while air temperature lags by a few hours into the late afternoon, so the worst hour to be outside in a Columbia July is not the hour carrying the most ultraviolet.

Through summer the inland position often works the other way around. The sea breeze that shuts down Lowcountry afternoons under cloud rarely reaches this far, so Columbia holds open sky through exactly the hours when the sun is highest, and a clear Midlands afternoon in June can end up ahead of a coastal one that started the day with the better sun angle.

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.

Charlotte, NC 86 mi · 35.2°N peak 7.4 Charleston, SC 106 mi · 32.8°N peak 7.4 Raleigh, NC 182 mi · 35.8°N peak 7.3

What does Columbia’s UV index mean today?

0.6 is Low. EPA describes low UV as needing no protection for most people. Today Columbia 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 Columbia 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 Columbia

What is the UV index in Columbia today?

0.6 right now (Low), peaking at 7.6 around 1pm local time. UV stays at 6 or above for 3 hours, from about 12pm to 3pm. This is a modelled value, not a ground measurement.

When is UV strongest in Columbia today?

Around 1pm local time (GMT-4), 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.

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

Updated