Bad Air Days in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania: under 1 a Year
under 1 bad air days a year
Rare: among the cleanest-air counties EPA monitors. Ranked 884 of 996 monitored counties, where 1 is worst.
What makes them bad: mostly ozone: summer smog (0% particle days).
Which months to watch
- J
- F
- M
- A
- M
- J
- J
- A
- S
- O
- N
- D
Most bad days here fall in May. 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 Luzerne
In 2000 to 2009 this county averaged 15 bad days a year; in 2016 to 2025, under 1. The air has improved. The worst recent year was 2016, with 1 bad day on 366 monitored days.
| Date | AQI | Main pollutant |
|---|---|---|
| 2016-05-25 | 119 | Ozone |
| 2018-05-02 | 101 | Ozone |
| 2016-07-28 | 100 | Ozone |
| 2018-05-01 | 97 | Ozone |
| 2018-05-26 | 93 | Ozone |
An ordinary day in Luzerne
Across 2,335 monitored days from 2016 to 2022, the air in Luzerne County rated Good on 95% of them, more often than the 72% typical of monitored counties, and Moderate on 4%. The median day sat at AQI 33; one day in ten went above 46.
The pollutant setting the AQI on an ordinary day here:
- ozone95%2,208 days
- coarse dust (PM10)5%127 days
Luzerne County by year
| Year | Days monitored | Good | Moderate | Over 100 | Over 150 | Median AQI | Highest AQI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 235 | 224 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 37 | 74 |
| 2021 | 287 | 270 | 17 | 0 | 0 | 34 | 90 |
| 2020 | 356 | 354 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 31 | 54 |
| 2019 | 361 | 350 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 34 | 77 |
| 2018 | 365 | 340 | 24 | 1 | 0 | 32 | 101 |
| 2017 | 365 | 354 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 33 | 71 |
| 2016 | 366 | 336 | 29 | 1 | 0 | 34 | 119 |
| 2015 | 365 | 329 | 35 | 1 | 0 | 34 | 105 |
| 2014 | 365 | 345 | 20 | 0 | 0 | 34 | 87 |
| 2013 | 365 | 339 | 25 | 1 | 0 | 33 | 108 |
| 2012 | 366 | 329 | 35 | 2 | 0 | 33 | 129 |
| 2011 | 365 | 346 | 19 | 0 | 0 | 30 | 100 |
| 2010 | 363 | 324 | 36 | 3 | 0 | 29 | 133 |
Pennsylvania compared
- Allegheny County12/yr
- Philadelphia County9/yr
- Bucks County8/yr
- Warren Countythin data
- Lancaster County6/yr
- Berks County5/yr
- Delaware County4/yr
- Northampton County4/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.