Bad Air Days in Amador County, California: 3 a Year
3 bad air days a year
About the middle of monitored US counties. Ranked 359 of 996 monitored counties, where 1 is worst.
What makes them bad: mostly ozone: summer smog (0% particle days).
When the bad days come in Amador
- J
- F
- M
- A
- M
- J
- J
- A
- S
- O
- N
- D
Most bad days here fall in August and July and September. Averaged over 2016 to 2025.
What actually helps here
- Ozone drives many bad days here. Purifiers and filters do not remove ozone, so do not buy one for that. Ozone peaks on hot afternoons: exercise outside in the morning.
The record for Amador
In 2000 to 2009 this county averaged 26 bad days a year; in 2016 to 2025, 3. The air has improved. The worst recent year was 2024, with 6 bad days on 359 monitored days.
| Date | AQI | Main pollutant |
|---|---|---|
| 2020-08-20 | 156 | Ozone |
| 2024-07-03 | 143 | Ozone |
| 2017-09-01 | 136 | Ozone |
| 2021-08-28 | 133 | Ozone |
| 2024-07-12 | 133 | Ozone |
The air on a normal day
Across 3,618 monitored days from 2016 to 2025, the air in Amador County rated Good on 86% of them, more often than the 72% typical of monitored counties, and Moderate on 14%. The median day sat at AQI 38; one day in ten went above 59.
The pollutant setting the AQI on an ordinary day here:
- ozone100%3,618 days
Year by year
| Year | Days monitored | Good | Moderate | Over 100 | Over 150 | Median AQI | Highest AQI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025* | 364 | 318 | 46 | 0 | 0 | 38 | 97 |
| 2024 | 359 | 281 | 72 | 6 | 0 | 40 | 143 |
| 2023 | 360 | 341 | 19 | 0 | 0 | 36 | 80 |
| 2022 | 364 | 333 | 30 | 1 | 0 | 36 | 112 |
| 2021 | 365 | 307 | 54 | 4 | 0 | 37 | 133 |
| 2020 | 359 | 327 | 29 | 3 | 1 | 37 | 156 |
| 2019 | 355 | 308 | 45 | 2 | 0 | 39 | 115 |
| 2018 | 364 | 288 | 70 | 6 | 0 | 40 | 129 |
| 2017 | 362 | 291 | 67 | 4 | 0 | 38 | 136 |
| 2016 | 366 | 304 | 57 | 5 | 0 | 37 | 115 |
| 2015 | 364 | 283 | 73 | 8 | 0 | 41 | 140 |
| 2014 | 359 | 263 | 86 | 10 | 0 | 42 | 133 |
| 2013 | 365 | 301 | 62 | 2 | 0 | 38 | 108 |
| 2012 | 363 | 257 | 86 | 20 | 1 | 40 | 156 |
| 2011 | 363 | 284 | 76 | 3 | 0 | 38 | 119 |
| 2010 | 361 | 302 | 48 | 11 | 1 | 35 | 151 |
*2025 may be a partial year in EPA's file.
California compared
- San Bernardino County138/yr
- Riverside County132/yr
- Kern County109/yr
- Tulare County107/yr
- Los Angeles County106/yr
- Fresno County81/yr
- Kings County49/yr
- Imperial County40/yr
How this is counted
A bad air day is a day the county's daily AQI from EPA AirData went above 100, the level where EPA tells children, older adults and people with asthma or heart disease to cut back outdoors. Monitors do not run every day, so yearly counts are scaled to 365 days. This is the record, not today's air: for that, check AirNow. More on the method in how the county numbers are made, on the AQI 100 line in what counts as a bad air day, and on why a purifier does not touch ozone in smoke vs ozone.