Bad Air Days in Putnam County, New York: 2 a Year

2 bad air days a year

About the middle of monitored US counties. Ranked 455 of 996 monitored counties, where 1 is worst.

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

When the bad days come in Putnam

Most bad days here fall in June and May and July. 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.

Better or worse than it was

In 2000 to 2009 this county averaged 19 bad days a year; in 2016 to 2025, 2. The air has improved. The worst recent year was 2024, with 7 bad days on 362 monitored days.

Date	AQI	Main pollutant
2016-05-26	156	Ozone
2018-07-02	151	Ozone
2023-04-14	140	Ozone
2024-06-18	136	Ozone
2016-05-25	129	Ozone

The air on a normal day

Across 3,433 monitored days from 2016 to 2025, the air in Putnam County rated Good on 94% of them, more often than the 72% typical of monitored counties, and Moderate on 5%. The median day sat at AQI 34; one day in ten went above 47.

The pollutant setting the AQI on an ordinary day here:

ozone100%3,433 days

Putnam County by year

Year	Days monitored	Good	Moderate	Over 100	Over 150	Median AQI	Highest AQI
2025*	343	323	20	0	0	33	97
2024	362	335	20	7	0	33	136
2023	350	334	13	3	0	32	140
2022	333	311	22	0	0	34	100
2021	353	334	18	1	0	35	112
2020	314	308	6	0	0	33	64
2019	329	313	15	1	0	35	101
2018	337	317	18	2	1	31	151
2017	356	335	18	3	0	34	112
2016	356	317	34	5	1	35	156
2015	362	335	25	2	0	33	140
2014	364	344	20	0	0	32	97
2013	353	339	13	1	0	32	108
2012	343	319	21	3	0	29	119
2011	343	323	17	3	0	34	136
2010	360	310	42	8	2	36	166

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

Elsewhere in New York

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.