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Wisconsin Air Quality

Kenosha-Racine Lakeside is the worst air in Wisconsin right now at an index of 29, which is Good, from ground-level ozone. AirNow carries 15 reporting areas in the state. No air quality alert is in force.

Reporting areas: 15
Worst index now: 29
Alerts in force: 0
Towns under smoke: 0

Fine particles on the map

Forecast fine particulate matter from NOAA’s National Air Quality Forecast Capability over Wisconsin. Open it for the live map, where it pans and zooms.

Open the live map with the particulate forecast

Map layer from NOAA National Air Quality Forecast Capability. Boundaries from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet.

Alerts in force

An Air Quality Alert is issued by the National Weather Service on behalf of a state or local agency when pollution is expected to reach a level that harms health. An Air Stagnation Advisory means the air will not move enough to clear what is already in it.

None are in force in Wisconsin right now. All Wisconsin warnings.

By city, now and the days ahead15

Every AirNow reporting area in Wisconsin: what its monitors measured this hour, and what the state or local agency that forecasts for it expects today and tomorrow. Each area links to the nearest town’s page.

Reporting area	Now	Category now	Today	Tomorrow	Pollutant
Kenosha-Racine Lakeside	29	Good	Good	Good	Ozone
Milwaukee-Ozaukee	29	Good	Good	Good	Ozone
Kettle Moraine North	28	Good	Good	Good	Ozone
Central Waters South	27	Good	Good	Good	Ozone
Driftless Area North	27	Good	Good	Good	Ozone
Sheboygan-Manitowoc	27	Good	Good	Good	Ozone
Kettle Moraine South	26	Good	Good	Good	Ozone
Kewaunee-Door	25	Good	Good	Good	Ozone
Madison Area	22	Good	Good	Good	Ozone
Driftless Area South	20	Good	Good	Good	PM2.5
Northwoods East	20	Good	Good	Good	Ozone
Central Waters North	19	Good	Good	Good	Ozone
Green Bay and Fox Cities	19	Good	Good	Good	Ozone
Northwoods West	19	Good	Good	Good	Ozone
Chippewa Valley and Eastern Twin Cities		No reading	Good	Good	Ozone

Smoke

NOAA’s analysts have not drawn wildfire smoke over any town in Wisconsin today.

Smoke on the radar over Wisconsin

What this means

The index runs from 0 to 500. Good is 0 to 50, Moderate to 100, Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups to 150, Unhealthy to 200, Very Unhealthy to 300, and Hazardous above that. The figure reported for a place is the highest index among the pollutants measured there, and the pollutant that produced it is named beside it.

What these numbers are. An index beside a monitor’s name is a measurement, published hourly by AirNow and preliminary until the operating agency certifies it. A category for today or tomorrow is a state or local agency forecaster’s own forecast for a reporting area. An hourly index is NOAA’s air quality model on a five-kilometer grid, not a reading from any instrument. Where a town has no monitor within reach, only the model figures appear, and the page says so.

Towns

Air quality for any town in Wisconsin: what is measured nearby, the category forecast for today and tomorrow, and NOAA’s model hour by hour. Largest first.

219 smaller towns

Smaller places have pages too; search for one on the air quality landing page.

Sources

Observations and daily forecasts from AirNow, the US Environmental Protection Agency’s program with NOAA, the National Park Service, NASA, tribal, state and local agencies. Hourly forecasts from NOAA’s National Air Quality Forecast Capability. Smoke analysis from NOAA’s Hazard Mapping System. Alerts from the National Weather Service. Index categories and breakpoints are EPA’s, as revised in 2024.