Vertical poloidal asymmetries of hydrogen isotopes and low-Z impurity radiation in the PDX tokamak may be caused by poloidally asymmetric sources of these elements at gas inlet valves, limiters or vacuum vessel walls, asymmetric magnetic-field geometry in the region beyond the plasma boundary, or by ion curvature drifts. Low ionization states of carbon (C II to C IV) are more easily affected by edge conditions than is C V. Vertical poloidal asymmetries of C V are correlated with the direction of the toroidal field. The magnitude of the asymmetry agrees with the predictions of a quasi-fluid neoclassical model. Experimental data and numerical simulations are presented to investigate different models of impurity poloidal asymmetries.