Move workouts to the morning
Ozone peaks on hot, sunny afternoons. Mornings are usually cleaner.
Ozone guide →EPA monitor readings, 2021 to 2025 · 15,000 people
For today's air and tomorrow's forecast, check AirNow by ZIP code.
11 bad-air days in 5 years of readings, 2021 to 2025. That's down from about 7 a year in the early 2000s. Missaukee County has the 8th fewest bad-air days of the 25 Michigan counties with monitors.
Average bad-air days in each month, from 10 years of daily readings since 2016. Most fall in April, June and August.
| Month | Ozone | Fine particles | All |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| February | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| March | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| April | 0.3 | 0 | 0.3 |
| May | 0.2 | 0 | 0.2 |
| June | 0.8 | 0.2 | 1.0 |
| July | 0 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
| August | 0 | 0.3 | 0.3 |
| September | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| October | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| November | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| December | 0 | 0 | 0 |
The worst day since 2016 was June 27, 2023: AQI 201, from fine particles.
The pollutant that pushed the AQI over 100 on each of the 19 bad-air days since 2016.
Most bad days here are ozone days: smog that builds on hot, sunny afternoons.
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.
| Month | Fine particles | Ozone |
|---|---|---|
| January | 0 | 0 |
| February | 0 | 0 |
| March | 0 | 0 |
| April | 0 | 0.5 |
| May | 0 | 0.8 |
| June | 0 | 1.9 |
| July | 0 | 0.7 |
| August | 0 | 0.6 |
| September | 0 | 0.5 |
| October | 0 | 0 |
| November | 0 | 0 |
| December | 0 | 0 |
Most bad days here are ozone, which builds on hot afternoons. Timing helps most; filters don't remove ozone.
Ozone peaks on hot, sunny afternoons. Mornings are usually cleaner.
Ozone guide →AirNow posts an air quality forecast by ZIP code, usually the day before.
AirNow →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.
For a clean room on smoky days. Each has a smoke CADR tested by AHAM's independent program and is certified by California as a mechanical cleaner, so it makes no ozone.
143 smoke CADR
The cheapest unit we found with a verified smoke rating. Enough for a bedroom clean room.
$119.99 at Levoit250 smoke CADR
The most verified smoke cleaning per dollar of any qualifying model: 75% more than the 100S-P for $50 more.
$169.99 at Levoit391 smoke CADR
For a big room or a small apartment. Buy the LAP-C601S-WUS version, which CARB lists as mechanical.
$299.99 at LevoitWhy all 3 are Levoit: of the models we checked that pass both tests, these give the most verified smoke cleaning per dollar at each room size. Medify's MA-25 and MA-40 also pass but cost more for the same cleaning.
Ratings from the AHAM Verifide directory and CARB's certified list. Prices from Levoit's site, checked November 7, 2026; they change. We don't earn anything from these links. How to pick a purifier
Bad-air days each year. The striped part is days unhealthy for everyone, over AQI 150. The worst recent year was 2023, with 6 bad-air days.
| Year | Bad-air days | Over 150 |
|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 5 | 1 |
| 2002 | 9 | 0 |
| 2003 | 11 | 1 |
| 2004 | 4 | 0 |
| 2005 | 7 | 1 |
| 2006 | 8 | 0 |
| 2007 | 11 | 0 |
| 2008 | 3 | 0 |
| 2009 | 0 | 0 |
| 2010 | 0 | 0 |
| 2011 | 2 | 0 |
| 2012 | 17 | 0 |
| 2013 | 1 | 0 |
| 2014 | 0 | 0 |
| 2015 | 1 | 0 |
| 2016 | 6 | 0 |
| 2017 | 1 | 0 |
| 2018 | 0 | 0 |
| 2019 | 0 | 0 |
| 2020 | 1 | 0 |
| 2021 | 0 | 0 |
| 2022 | 1 | 0 |
| 2023 | 6 | 2 |
| 2024 | 0 | 0 |
| 2025 | 4 | 0 |
Bad-air days a year, 2021 to 2025. Michigan counties with monitors averaged about 7 bad-air days a year, weighted by population.
Nearest counties with a full report: Manistee County, MI (6 bad-air days a year), Kent County, MI (6 bad-air days a year), Muskegon County, MI (6 bad-air days a year).
From 2021 to 2025, monitors in Missaukee County recorded about 2 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 2023, with 6 bad-air days.
Most bad days here are ozone days: smog that builds on hot, sunny afternoons. Bad days cluster in April, June and August.
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 Missaukee County is about 42, which is good, fine for everyone. Check it most in April, June and August, when bad days here cluster.
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 361 days a year from 2021 to 2025. 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 Missaukee 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.