Air Quality Index (AQI) Forecast and Current Observations for New York State
The following links provide the daily AQI forecast and most current monitoring data for New York State.
General Information
The Air Quality Index (AQI) is an index for reporting daily air quality. It tells you how clean or polluted your air is, and what associated health effects might be a concern for you. It was created as an easy way to correlate levels of different pollutants to one scale; the higher the AQI value, the greater the health concern. When levels of ozone and/or fine particles are expected to exceed an AQI value of 100, an Air Quality Health Advisory is issued alerting sensitive groups to take the necessary precautions.
The Air Quality Forecast displays the predicted maximum Air Quality Index value for eight Air Quality Health Advisory regions in New York State. It also displays the observed maximum values for the previous day. DEC's Air Quality Health Advisory regions consist of the following:
- Region I Long Island - Nassau and Suffolk
- Region II New York City Metro - New York City, Rockland, and Westchester
- Region III Lower Hudson - Dutchess, Orange, Putnam, Ulster, and Sullivan
- Region IV Upper Hudson - Albany, Columbia, Fulton, Greene, Montgomery, Rensselaer, Saratoga, Schenectady, Schoharie, and Washington
- Region V Adirondacks - Clinton, Essex, Franklin, Hamilton, northern Herkimer, Lewis, St. Lawrence, and Warren
- Region VI Eastern Lake Ontario - northern Cayuga, Jefferson, Monroe, Oswego, and Wayne
- Region VII Central - Allegany, Broome, southern Cayuga, Chemung, Chenango, Cortland, Delaware, southern Herkimer, Livingston, Madison, Onondaga, Oneida, Ontario, Otsego, Tioga, Tompkins, Schuyler, Seneca, Steuben, and Yates
- Region VIII Western New York - Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Erie, Genesee, Niagara, Orleans, and Wyoming
Air quality measurements from our statewide continuous monitoring network are updated hourly where available. Parameters monitored include ozone, fine particulate, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, methane/nonmethane hydrocarbons, and meteorological data.
