Keep one room clean on smoky days
Shut the windows and run an air purifier sized for the room.
Choosing a purifier →Air quality in Norfolk City, VA
EPA monitor readings, 2021 to 2025 (fine particles only) · 238,000 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
No bad-air days from 2021 to 2025. In the early 2000s it was about 1 a year. Norfolk City is tied with 2 other Virginia counties for the fewest bad-air days of the 25 with monitors.
0days unhealthy for everyoneAQI over 150, a year
24AQI on a typical dayGood: fine for everyone
Cleanevery month since 2016No bad-air days in the daily readings
96worst day since 2016Jun 29, 2023, fine particles
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 24 (Good)Worst day 96 (Moderate)
Good0 to 50Moderate51 to 100Sensitive groups101 to 150Unhealthy151 to 200Very unhealthy201 to 300Hazardous301 to 500
Bad-air days by month in Norfolk City
Monitors here recorded no bad-air days in 10 years of daily readings since 2016. Every month is clear.
Jan0
Feb0
Mar0
Apr0
May0
Jun0
Jul0
Aug0
Sep0
Oct0
Nov0
Dec0
The worst day since 2016 was June 29, 2023: AQI 96, from fine particles.
What causes it
Fine particles are the only pollutant measured here. Monitors here recorded no bad-air days since 2016. Monitors here don't measure ozone, so smog days aren't in these counts.
CDC's model estimates about 0.2 days a year with high ozone 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 | 0.4 |
| May | 0 | 0.6 |
| June | 0.6 | 2.2 |
| July | 0.2 | 2.3 |
| August | 0.4 | 1.5 |
| September | 0 | 0.5 |
| October | 0 | 0 |
| November | 0 | 0 |
| December | 0 | 0 |
What helps in Norfolk City
Monitors here track fine particles such as smoke, so filtering the air at home helps most. Check the forecast for ozone, which isn't measured here.
Upgrade the furnace filter
Use MERV 13 if your system can take it, and run the fan on smoky days.
Furnace filters →Check tomorrow's forecast
AirNow posts an air quality forecast by ZIP code, usually the day before.
AirNow →For today's reading and tomorrow's forecast, check AirNow by ZIP code. Its fire and smoke map adds smoke plumes.
Smoky days are rare here, so a purifier is optional. 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. No year from 2021 to 2025 had a 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 | 2 | 0 |
| 2001 | 2 | 0 |
| 2002 | 1 | 0 |
| 2003 | 1 | 1 |
| 2004 | 0 | 0 |
| 2007 | 1 | 0 |
| 2008 | 7 | 3 |
| 2009 | 0 | 0 |
| 2011 | 3 | 0 |
| 2012 | 0 | 0 |
| 2013 | 0 | 0 |
| 2014 | 0 | 0 |
| 2015 | 0 | 0 |
| 2016 | 0 | 0 |
| 2017 | 0 | 0 |
| 2018 | 0 | 0 |
| 2019 | 0 | 0 |
| 2020 | 0 | 0 |
| 2021 | 0 | 0 |
| 2022 | 0 | 0 |
| 2023 | 0 | 0 |
| 2024 | 0 | 0 |
| 2025 | 0 | 0 |
Norfolk City and its neighbors
Bad-air days a year, 2021 to 2025. Virginia counties with monitors averaged about 2 bad-air days a year, weighted by population.
Nearest county with a full report: Sussex County, DE (1 bad-air day a year).
Questions people ask about air in Norfolk City
How often is the air bad in Norfolk City?
From 2021 to 2025, monitors in Norfolk City recorded almost no bad-air days a year with an AQI above 100, which is unhealthy for sensitive groups or worse. No year from 2021 to 2025 had a bad-air day.
What causes bad air in Norfolk City?
Monitors here recorded no bad-air days since 2016. Monitors here don't measure ozone, so smog days aren't in these counts.
Where can I see today's air quality in Norfolk City?
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 Norfolk City is about 24, which is good, fine for everyone. Bad days are rare here, so check it when wildfire smoke is in the news.
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 363 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 Norfolk City almost no high-particle days and almost no high-ozone days 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.