Bad Air Days in Pontotoc County, Oklahoma: under 1 a Year
under 1 bad air day a year
Fewer bad air days than most monitored US counties. Ranked 703 of 996 monitored counties, where 1 is worst.
What makes them bad: a mix of particles and ozone (50% particle days).
Which months to watch
- J
- F
- M
- A
- M
- J
- J
- A
- S
- O
- N
- D
Most bad days here fall in August and October. Averaged over 2016 to 2025.
Is a purifier worth it 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 Pontotoc
The worst recent year was 2022, with 1 bad day on 152 monitored days.
| Date | AQI | Main pollutant |
|---|---|---|
| 2022-10-21 | 101 | Ozone |
| 2024-08-01 | 101 | PM2.5 |
| 2023-05-26 | 93 | Ozone |
| 2023-07-25 | 93 | Ozone |
| 2022-09-28 | 90 | Ozone |
Most days, not the worst ones
Across 799 monitored days from 2022 to 2024, the air in Pontotoc County rated Good on 74% of them, close to the 72% typical of monitored counties, and Moderate on 26%. The median day sat at AQI 42; one day in ten went above 62.
The pollutant setting the AQI on an ordinary day here:
- ozone70%558 days
- fine particles (PM2.5)29%234 days
- coarse dust (PM10)1%7 days
Pontotoc County by year
| Year | Days monitored | Good | Moderate | Over 100 | Over 150 | Median AQI | Highest AQI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 289 | 207 | 81 | 1 | 0 | 43 | 101 |
| 2023 | 358 | 252 | 106 | 0 | 0 | 42 | 93 |
| 2022 | 152 | 131 | 20 | 1 | 0 | 38 | 101 |
Oklahoma compared
- Love County10/yr
- Tulsa County6/yr
- Oklahoma County6/yr
- Jefferson County5/yr
- McClain County5/yr
- Ottawa County4/yr
- Carter County4/yr
- Washington 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.