Bad Air Days in Newton County, Arkansas: under 1 a Year

under 1 bad air days a year

Rare: among the cleanest-air counties EPA monitors. Ranked 950 of 996 monitored counties, where 1 is worst.

What makes them bad: mostly ozone: summer smog (0% particle days).

Which months to watch

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

What actually helps here

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 Newton

In 2000 to 2009 this county averaged 7 bad days a year; in 2016 to 2025, under 1. The air has improved. The worst recent year was 2022, with 1 bad day on 365 monitored days.

Date	AQI	Main pollutant
2022-03-03	105	Ozone
2025-03-14	91	PM2.5
2016-06-09	90	Ozone
2019-04-09	90	Ozone
2022-07-19	90	Ozone

An ordinary day in Newton

Across 3,648 monitored days from 2016 to 2025, the air in Newton County rated Good on 92% of them, more often than the 72% typical of monitored counties, and Moderate on 8%. The median day sat at AQI 37; one day in ten went above 50.

The pollutant setting the AQI on an ordinary day here:

ozone92%3,371 days
fine particles (PM2.5)8%277 days

Newton County by year

Year	Days monitored	Good	Moderate	Over 100	Median AQI	Highest AQI
2025*	364	329	35	0	38	91
2024	366	334	32	0	39	87
2023	364	311	53	0	39	90
2022	365	337	27	1	37	105
2021	365	340	25	0	37	74
2020	364	352	12	0	35	84
2019	365	344	21	0	36	90
2018	364	326	38	0	36	84
2017	365	338	27	0	38	63
2016	366	337	29	0	37	90
2015	365	329	36	0	35	90
2014	365	323	42	0	36	87
2013	365	306	59	0	38	90
2012	366	271	93	2	43	136
2011	365	264	99	2	43	108
2010	365	278	85	2	40	105

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

Elsewhere in Arkansas

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.