Move workouts to the morning
Ozone peaks on hot, sunny afternoons. Mornings are usually cleaner.
Ozone guide →Air quality in Shelby County, AL
Includes Alabaster · EPA monitor readings, 2021 to 2025 (ozone only) · 223,000 people
For today's air and tomorrow's forecast, check AirNow by ZIP code.
Bad-air days a year
<1
day with an AQI over 100
2 bad-air days in 5 years of readings, 2021 to 2025. That's down from about 30 a year in the early 2000s. Shelby County is tied with 2 other Alabama counties for the 5th most bad-air days of the 14 with monitors.
0days unhealthy for everyoneAQI over 150, a year
38AQI on a typical dayGood: fine for everyone
Jun, Jul and Sepworst monthsOzone, the only pollutant measured
133worst day since 2016Jun 9, 2016, ozone
How to read the AQIThe EPA's air score runs from 0 to 500. Higher is worse. Over 100 counts as a bad-air day.
Typical day 38 (Good)Worst day 133 (Unhealthy for sensitive groups)
Good0 to 50Moderate51 to 100Sensitive groups101 to 150Unhealthy151 to 200Very unhealthy201 to 300Hazardous301 to 500
When bad air happens in Shelby County
Average bad-air days in each month, from 10 years of daily readings since 2016. Most fall in June, July and September. Only ozone is measured here.
Jan0
Feb0
Mar0
Apr0
May0
Jun0.7
Jul0.1
Aug0
Sep0.2
Oct0
Nov0
Dec0
Fine particles (smoke, soot)Ozone (smog)Bars stack in that order, from the bottom.
See the numbers by month
| Month | Ozone | Fine particles | All |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| February | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| March | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| April | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| May | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| June | 0.7 | 0 | 0.7 |
| July | 0.1 | 0 | 0.1 |
| August | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| September | 0.2 | 0 | 0.2 |
| October | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| November | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| December | 0 | 0 | 0 |
The worst day since 2016 was June 9, 2016: AQI 133, from ozone.
What causes it
Ozone is the only pollutant measured here. Every bad day counted here was an ozone day: smog that builds on hot, sunny afternoons. Monitors here don't measure fine particles, so smoky days aren't in these counts.
CDC's model estimates about 0.2 days a year with high fine particles at the county's worst spot, 2018 to 2022. See the estimates on the map
CDC estimates by month, 2001 to 2022
The CDC's model counts bad-air days at the county's worst spot, from monitors and satellites. Particles (brown) fill the inside of the ring and ozone (blue) the outside.
See the numbers by month
| Month | Fine particles | Ozone |
|---|---|---|
| January | 0 | 0 |
| February | 0 | 0 |
| March | 0 | 0 |
| April | 0 | 0.5 |
| May | 0.4 | 1.2 |
| June | 0.3 | 3.3 |
| July | 0.6 | 2.1 |
| August | 0.8 | 2.3 |
| September | 0.5 | 1.3 |
| October | 0 | 0.2 |
| November | 0.1 | 0 |
| December | 0 | 0 |
What helps in Shelby County
Monitors here track ozone, which builds on hot afternoons, so timing helps. They don't track smoke, so it's worth having a clean room ready too.
Check tomorrow's forecast
AirNow posts an air quality forecast by ZIP code, usually the day before.
AirNow →Keep one room clean on smoky days
Shut the windows and run an air purifier sized for the room.
Choosing a purifier →For today's reading and tomorrow's forecast, check AirNow by ZIP code. Its fire and smoke map adds smoke plumes.
Purifiers catch smoke but don't remove ozone, and smoky days are rare here. If you want one for wildfire season anyway, see the 3 models we'd buy, each with a verified smoke rating.
Every year since 2000
Bad-air days each year. The striped part is days unhealthy for everyone, over AQI 150. The worst recent year was 2022, with 1 bad-air day.
Unhealthy for sensitive groups (101 to 150)Unhealthy or worse (over 150)
See the numbers by year
| Year | Bad-air days | Over 150 |
|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 53 | 15 |
| 2001 | 30 | 7 |
| 2002 | 32 | 8 |
| 2003 | 23 | 1 |
| 2004 | 14 | 2 |
| 2005 | 31 | 3 |
| 2006 | 31 | 6 |
| 2007 | 29 | 6 |
| 2008 | 9 | 2 |
| 2009 | 3 | 0 |
| 2010 | 7 | 2 |
| 2011 | 13 | 1 |
| 2012 | 6 | 0 |
| 2013 | 1 | 0 |
| 2014 | 1 | 0 |
| 2015 | 2 | 0 |
| 2016 | 4 | 0 |
| 2017 | 0 | 0 |
| 2018 | 1 | 0 |
| 2019 | 3 | 0 |
| 2020 | 0 | 0 |
| 2021 | 0 | 0 |
| 2022 | 1 | 0 |
| 2023 | 1 | 0 |
| 2024 | 0 | 0 |
| 2025 | 0 | 0 |
Shelby County and its neighbors
Bad-air days a year, 2021 to 2025. Alabama counties with monitors averaged about 2 bad-air days a year, weighted by population.
Shelby County<1
Nearest counties with a full report: Tuscaloosa County, AL (under 1 bad-air days a year), Etowah County, AL (under 1 bad-air days a year).
Questions people ask about air in Shelby County
How often is the air bad in Shelby County?
From 2021 to 2025, monitors in Shelby County recorded almost no bad-air days a year with an AQI above 100, which is unhealthy for sensitive groups or worse. The worst year in that stretch was 2022, with 1 bad-air day.
What causes bad air in Shelby County?
Every bad day counted here was an ozone day: smog that builds on hot, sunny afternoons. Bad days cluster in June, July and September. Monitors here don't measure fine particles, so smoky days aren't in these counts.
Where can I see today's air quality in Shelby County?
AirNow, run by the EPA and its partners, shows the current AQI and tomorrow's forecast for your ZIP code. Its fire and smoke map adds smoke plumes. On a typical day the AQI in Shelby County is about 38, which is good, fine for everyone. Check it most in June, July and September, when bad days here cluster.
About these numbers
Day counts come from the EPA's county air quality summaries, which take the worst reading across a county's monitors each day. Monitors here reported on about 242 days a year from 2021 to 2025; some run only in ozone season, so a few bad days can go uncounted. A county is large, and your street can be cleaner or worse. CDC's model, which estimates every county from monitors and satellites, gives the worst spot in Shelby County almost no high-particle days and about 1 high-ozone day a year from 2018 to 2022.
Sources: EPA AirData county AQI summaries (2000 to 2025) and daily county AQI (2016 to 2025); CDC Environmental Public Health Tracking Network modeled PM2.5 and ozone (2001 to 2022). Updated November 8, 2026.