Bad Air Days in Tompkins County, New York: under 1 a Year
under 1 bad air days a year
Rare: among the cleanest-air counties EPA monitors. Ranked 843 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. 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 record for Tompkins
In 2000 to 2009 this county averaged 9 bad days a year; in 2016 to 2025, under 1. The air has improved. The worst recent year was 2016, with 2 bad days on 361 monitored days.
| Date | AQI | Main pollutant |
|---|---|---|
| 2016-05-25 | 122 | Ozone |
| 2016-05-24 | 115 | Ozone |
| 2021-05-18 | 105 | Ozone |
| 2018-05-26 | 101 | Ozone |
| 2016-05-26 | 100 | Ozone |
An ordinary day in Tompkins
Across 3,577 monitored days from 2016 to 2025, the air in Tompkins County rated Good on 95% of them, more often than the 72% typical of monitored counties, and Moderate on 5%. The median day sat at AQI 35; one day in ten went above 46.
The pollutant setting the AQI on an ordinary day here:
- ozone100%3,577 days
Every recent year on file
| Year | Days monitored | Good | Moderate | Over 100 | Over 150 | Median AQI | Highest AQI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025* | 355 | 331 | 24 | 0 | 0 | 35 | 74 |
| 2024 | 350 | 340 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 35 | 71 |
| 2023 | 357 | 332 | 25 | 0 | 0 | 35 | 100 |
| 2022 | 361 | 349 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 36 | 67 |
| 2021 | 360 | 334 | 25 | 1 | 0 | 35 | 105 |
| 2020 | 364 | 359 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 34 | 64 |
| 2019 | 356 | 349 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 35 | 61 |
| 2018 | 360 | 332 | 27 | 1 | 0 | 33 | 101 |
| 2017 | 353 | 339 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 35 | 71 |
| 2016 | 361 | 331 | 28 | 2 | 0 | 36 | 122 |
| 2015 | 351 | 332 | 19 | 0 | 0 | 35 | 93 |
| 2014 | 353 | 334 | 19 | 0 | 0 | 35 | 80 |
| 2013 | 351 | 327 | 24 | 0 | 0 | 35 | 93 |
| 2012 | 350 | 305 | 39 | 6 | 0 | 37 | 115 |
| 2011 | 289 | 269 | 20 | 0 | 0 | 35 | 90 |
| 2010 | 345 | 298 | 43 | 4 | 0 | 37 | 122 |
*2025 may be a partial year in EPA's file.
Nearby counties on file
- Suffolk County9/yr
- Queens County6/yr
- Westchester County5/yr
- Bronx County5/yr
- Richmond County5/yr
- New York County5/yr
- Rockland County3/yr
- Erie County3/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.