Bad Air Days in Carter County, Oklahoma: 4 a Year
4 bad air days a year
About the middle of monitored US counties. Ranked 257 of 996 monitored counties, where 1 is worst.
What makes them bad: mostly ozone: summer smog (18% particle days).
When the bad days come in Carter
- J
- F
- M
- A
- M
- J
- J
- A
- S
- O
- N
- D
Most bad days here fall in August and June and September and October. Averaged over 2016 to 2025.
Is a purifier worth it 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 worst days on file
In 2000 to 2009 this county averaged 17 bad days a year; in 2016 to 2025, 4. The air has improved. The worst recent year was 2023, with 17 bad days on 344 monitored days.
| Date | AQI | Main pollutant |
|---|---|---|
| 2022-10-02 | 160 | PM2.5 |
| 2025-03-14 | 155 | PM2.5 |
| 2020-06-27 | 147 | PM2.5 |
| 2024-10-10 | 143 | Ozone |
| 2024-08-08 | 140 | Ozone |
Most days, not the worst ones
Across 3,383 monitored days from 2016 to 2025, the air in Carter County rated Good on 66% of them, less often than the 72% typical of monitored counties, and Moderate on 33%. The median day sat at AQI 43; one day in ten went above 64.
The pollutant setting the AQI on an ordinary day here:
- fine particles (PM2.5)73%2,454 days
- ozone27%929 days
Every recent year on file
| Year | Days monitored | Good | Moderate | Over 100 | Over 150 | Median AQI | Highest AQI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025* | 343 | 280 | 62 | 1 | 1 | 32 | 155 |
| 2024 | 363 | 217 | 132 | 14 | 0 | 48 | 143 |
| 2023 | 344 | 189 | 138 | 17 | 0 | 48 | 136 |
| 2022 | 343 | 254 | 88 | 1 | 1 | 37 | 160 |
| 2021 | 316 | 186 | 129 | 1 | 0 | 46 | 118 |
| 2020 | 345 | 201 | 143 | 1 | 0 | 47 | 147 |
| 2019 | 365 | 228 | 137 | 0 | 0 | 46 | 97 |
| 2018 | 356 | 227 | 127 | 2 | 0 | 41 | 128 |
| 2017 | 310 | 197 | 113 | 0 | 0 | 43 | 80 |
| 2016 | 298 | 241 | 54 | 3 | 0 | 42 | 129 |
| 2013 | 62 | 39 | 23 | 0 | 0 | 44 | 72 |
| 2012 | 348 | 131 | 199 | 18 | 0 | 55 | 147 |
| 2011 | 333 | 116 | 180 | 37 | 3 | 57 | 177 |
| 2010 | 357 | 235 | 122 | 0 | 0 | 39 | 74 |
*2025 may be a partial year in EPA's file.
Nearby counties on file
- Love County10/yr
- Tulsa County6/yr
- Oklahoma County6/yr
- Jefferson County5/yr
- McClain County5/yr
- Ottawa County4/yr
- Washington County4/yr
- Cleveland County3/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.