Bad Air Days in McMinn County, Tennessee: under 1 a Year

under 1 bad air days a year

Rare: among the cleanest-air counties EPA monitors. Ranked 865 of 996 monitored counties, where 1 is worst.

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

The bad-air season here

Most bad days here fall in June and July and November. 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 worst days on file

In 2000 to 2009 this county averaged 2 bad days a year; in 2016 to 2025, under 1. Not much has changed. The worst recent year was 2016, with 1 bad day on 119 monitored days.

Date	AQI	Main pollutant
2016-11-14	172	PM2.5
2023-07-17	114	PM2.5
2023-06-29	108	PM2.5
2023-06-28	96	PM2.5
2023-07-18	92	PM2.5

The air on a normal day

Across 3,196 monitored days from 2016 to 2025, the air in McMinn County rated Good on 71% of them, close to the 72% typical of monitored counties, and Moderate on 29%. The median day sat at AQI 38; one day in ten went above 57.

The pollutant setting the AQI on an ordinary day here:

fine particles (PM2.5)100%3,196 days

McMinn County by year

Year	Days monitored	Good	Moderate	Over 100	Over 150	Median AQI	Highest AQI
2025*	357	279	78	0	0	37	71
2024	356	281	75	0	0	32	89
2023	355	238	115	2	0	39	114
2022	357	233	124	0	0	41	73
2021	360	250	110	0	0	37	90
2020	358	280	78	0	0	37	89
2019	357	239	118	0	0	41	69
2018	356	246	110	0	0	39	71
2017	221	142	79	0	0	43	70
2016	119	76	42	1	1	43	172
2015	110	72	38	0	0	43	67
2014	273	204	69	0	0	42	84
2013	100	59	41	0	0	47	69
2012	225	225	0	0	0	14	44
2011	358	357	1	0	0	17	51
2010	353	352	1	0	0	18	52

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

Nearby counties on file

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.