Bad Air Days in Sandoval County, New Mexico: 2 a Year
2 bad air days a year
About the middle of monitored US counties. Ranked 443 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 August and July and June. 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 worst days on file
In 2000 to 2009 this county averaged 10 bad days a year; in 2016 to 2025, 2. The air has improved. The worst recent year was 2018, with 12 bad days on 354 monitored days.
| Date | AQI | Main pollutant |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-07-25 | 122 | Ozone |
| 2018-08-02 | 119 | Ozone |
| 2020-08-25 | 119 | Ozone |
| 2021-06-09 | 119 | Ozone |
| 2018-08-01 | 115 | Ozone |
An ordinary day in Sandoval
Across 3,578 monitored days from 2016 to 2025, the air in Sandoval County rated Good on 75% of them, close to the 72% typical of monitored counties, and Moderate on 24%. The median day sat at AQI 44; one day in ten went above 67.
The pollutant setting the AQI on an ordinary day here:
- ozone99%3,559 days
Sandoval County by year
| Year | Days monitored | Good | Moderate | Over 100 | Over 150 | Median AQI | Highest AQI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025* | 358 | 263 | 95 | 0 | 0 | 44 | 93 |
| 2024 | 363 | 271 | 90 | 2 | 0 | 44 | 122 |
| 2023 | 340 | 270 | 70 | 0 | 0 | 44 | 87 |
| 2022 | 360 | 295 | 64 | 1 | 0 | 43 | 101 |
| 2021 | 357 | 271 | 83 | 3 | 0 | 44 | 119 |
| 2020 | 358 | 271 | 82 | 5 | 0 | 44 | 119 |
| 2019 | 363 | 275 | 88 | 0 | 0 | 44 | 97 |
| 2018 | 354 | 223 | 119 | 12 | 0 | 45 | 119 |
| 2017 | 364 | 269 | 94 | 1 | 0 | 44 | 105 |
| 2016 | 361 | 292 | 69 | 0 | 0 | 42 | 90 |
| 2015 | 357 | 293 | 64 | 0 | 0 | 41 | 97 |
| 2014 | 335 | 294 | 41 | 0 | 0 | 41 | 80 |
| 2013 | 351 | 283 | 68 | 0 | 0 | 43 | 97 |
| 2012 | 357 | 297 | 60 | 0 | 0 | 43 | 100 |
| 2011 | 365 | 152 | 213 | 0 | 0 | 52 | 100 |
| 2010 | 365 | 221 | 144 | 0 | 0 | 48 | 100 |
*2025 may be a partial year in EPA's file.
New Mexico compared
- Dona Ana County28/yr
- Eddy County19/yr
- Bernalillo County15/yr
- San Juan County6/yr
- Luna County5/yr
- Lea County4/yr
- Valencia County1/yr
- Rio Arriba 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.