Bad Air Days in Rockingham County, Virginia: under 1 a Year

under 1 bad air days a year

Rare: among the cleanest-air counties EPA monitors. Ranked 854 of 996 monitored counties, where 1 is worst.

What makes them bad: mostly particles: smoke and dust (75% particle days).

Which months to watch

Most bad days here fall in June and April and November. 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 Rockingham

In 2000 to 2009 this county averaged under 1 bad days a year; in 2016 to 2025, under 1. Not much has changed. The worst recent year was 2023, with 3 bad days on 365 monitored days.

Date	AQI	Main pollutant
2023-06-29	168	PM2.5
2023-11-17	135	PM2.5
2016-04-19	108	Ozone
2023-06-08	107	PM2.5
2023-06-01	100	Ozone

Most days, not the worst ones

Across 3,648 monitored days from 2016 to 2025, the air in Rockingham County rated Good on 87% of them, more often than the 72% typical of monitored counties, and Moderate on 12%. The median day sat at AQI 36; one day in ten went above 52.

The pollutant setting the AQI on an ordinary day here:

ozone54%1,978 days
fine particles (PM2.5)24%884 days
nitrogen dioxide22%786 days

Year by year

Year	Days monitored	Good	Moderate	Over 100	Over 150	Median AQI	Highest AQI
2025*	365	292	73	0	0	39	80
2024	366	283	83	0	0	42	83
2023	365	322	40	3	1	37	168
2022	365	332	33	0	0	34	74
2021	363	316	47	0	0	36	87
2020	363	344	19	0	0	33	77
2019	365	333	32	0	0	38	69
2018	365	324	41	0	0	33	82
2017	365	324	41	0	0	37	87
2016	366	320	45	1	0	34	108
2015	361	306	55	0	0	36	90
2014	361	300	61	0	0	37	88
2013	365	304	61	0	0	37	79
2012	346	252	92	2	0	39	115
2011	365	272	91	2	0	38	112
2010	362	241	119	2	0	43	129

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

Virginia compared

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.