Bad Air Days in Rio Arriba County, New Mexico: 1 a Year
1 bad air day a year
Fewer bad air days than most monitored US counties. Ranked 651 of 996 monitored counties, where 1 is worst.
What makes them bad: mostly ozone: summer smog (0% particle days).
The bad-air season here
- J
- F
- M
- A
- M
- J
- J
- A
- S
- O
- N
- D
Most bad days here fall in May and June and April and August. 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
The worst recent year was 2024, with 3 bad days on 359 monitored days.
| Date | AQI | Main pollutant |
|---|---|---|
| 2021-08-08 | 143 | Ozone |
| 2018-08-06 | 126 | Ozone |
| 2018-05-28 | 115 | Ozone |
| 2018-06-25 | 112 | Ozone |
| 2024-05-22 | 108 | Ozone |
An ordinary day in Rio Arriba
Across 3,562 monitored days from 2016 to 2025, the air in Rio Arriba County rated Good on 81% of them, more often than the 72% typical of monitored counties, and Moderate on 18%. The median day sat at AQI 44; one day in ten went above 60.
The pollutant setting the AQI on an ordinary day here:
- ozone99%3,514 days
- fine particles (PM2.5)1%48 days
Every recent year on file
| Year | Days monitored | Good | Moderate | Over 100 | Over 150 | Median AQI | Highest AQI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025* | 359 | 306 | 53 | 0 | 0 | 44 | 87 |
| 2024 | 359 | 252 | 104 | 3 | 0 | 45 | 108 |
| 2023 | 346 | 318 | 28 | 0 | 0 | 43 | 71 |
| 2022 | 331 | 304 | 26 | 1 | 0 | 40 | 105 |
| 2021 | 363 | 276 | 86 | 1 | 0 | 44 | 143 |
| 2020 | 362 | 313 | 49 | 0 | 0 | 44 | 90 |
| 2019 | 358 | 315 | 43 | 0 | 0 | 43 | 90 |
| 2018 | 362 | 246 | 113 | 3 | 0 | 46 | 126 |
| 2017 | 360 | 269 | 88 | 3 | 0 | 45 | 105 |
| 2016 | 362 | 304 | 58 | 0 | 0 | 44 | 80 |
| 2015 | 361 | 299 | 62 | 0 | 0 | 42 | 90 |
| 2014 | 363 | 286 | 77 | 0 | 0 | 44 | 93 |
| 2013 | 295 | 237 | 56 | 2 | 0 | 44 | 112 |
| 2012 | 101 | 101 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 16 | 46 |
| 2011 | 112 | 104 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 85 |
| 2010 | 104 | 103 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 52 |
*2025 may be a partial year in EPA's file.
Elsewhere in New Mexico
- Dona Ana County28/yr
- Eddy County19/yr
- Bernalillo County15/yr
- San Juan County6/yr
- Luna County5/yr
- Lea County4/yr
- Sandoval County2/yr
- Valencia County1/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.