Bad Air Days in Garrett County, Maryland: under 1 a Year

under 1 bad air days a year

Rare: among the cleanest-air counties EPA monitors. Ranked 923 of 996 monitored counties, where 1 is worst.

What makes them bad: mostly particles: smoke and dust (100% particle days).

Which months to watch

Most bad days here fall in June. Averaged over 2016 to 2025.

What to buy, and what not to

Bad air days are rare here. A standard furnace filter is enough; no purifier needed for outdoor air.
On the odd bad day, check AirNow and keep windows shut.

The record for Garrett

In 2000 to 2009 this county averaged 9 bad days a year; in 2016 to 2025, under 1. The air has improved. The worst recent year was 2023, with 2 bad days on 360 monitored days.

Date	AQI	Main pollutant
2023-06-29	170	PM2.5
2023-06-28	155	PM2.5
2016-04-18	97	Ozone
2016-04-19	97	Ozone
2018-05-01	97	Ozone

An ordinary day in Garrett

Across 3,641 monitored days from 2016 to 2025, the air in Garrett County rated Good on 85% of them, more often than the 72% typical of monitored counties, and Moderate on 15%. The median day sat at AQI 39; one day in ten went above 54.

The pollutant setting the AQI on an ordinary day here:

ozone73%2,652 days
fine particles (PM2.5)27%973 days

Garrett County by year

Year	Days monitored	Good	Moderate	Over 100	Over 150	Median AQI	Highest AQI
2025*	365	318	47	0	0	39	80
2024	366	311	55	0	0	39	87
2023	360	297	61	2	2	40	170
2022	365	330	35	0	0	38	97
2021	365	312	53	0	0	39	92
2020	365	345	20	0	0	37	71
2019	365	311	54	0	0	39	71
2018	362	298	64	0	0	39	97
2017	364	285	79	0	0	43	87
2016	364	301	63	0	0	42	97
2015	365	261	104	0	0	43	100
2014	365	264	101	0	0	44	87
2013	365	243	121	1	0	45	122
2012	359	213	133	13	1	47	154
2011	363	164	195	4	0	52	119
2010	365	199	152	14	0	48	150

*2025 may be a partial year in EPA's file.

Maryland compared

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.