How's the Smoke?

Today's air quality in plain language, updated hourly — for wildfire-smoke season and every day.

About these tools

Today's air in town, in plain language. Most of the year the answer is good — the time it isn't is wildfire-smoke season, from about mid-August into September.

Right now

Unhealthy Some people may start to feel effects, and anyone with asthma or a heart or lung condition may feel them more seriously. Cut back on strenuous time outdoors.

170

Air quality index · US Air Quality Index (EPA)

US scale: under 50 is good, over 100 is unhealthy for sensitive groups

127.6 µg/m³

Fine particles (PM2.5)

The pollutant that matters most for health

18.9 µg/m³

Nitrogen dioxide

Mostly from traffic

101.0 µg/m³

Ozone

Forms on hot, sunny days

Next few days

Day	Air quality
Mon, Aug 24	Very Unhealthy
Tue, Aug 25	Hazardous
Wed, Aug 26	Hazardous
Thu, Aug 27	Very Unhealthy

Worth knowing

Smoke is what moves the needle

Leavenworth's air goes from good to bad mainly because of wildfire smoke, sometimes from fires a long way off, mostly mid-August into September. In 2025 the Lower Sugarloaf and Labor Mountain fires pushed the valley to unhealthy and hazardous air for stretches of August and September.

When the air is bad

On a high-smoke day, rafting, hiking and patio dining all get harder, and it matters most for kids, older people and anyone with heart or lung trouble. The town's weather-warnings page shows any official Air Quality Alert; the Watch Duty app is what locals use to track the fires themselves.

One reading, one valley

This is a model reading for the town. Up the side canyons and higher in the mountains, smoke can settle or clear differently — trust your eyes and nose too.

Updated now. These are modelled estimates for the area around downtown Leavenworth, not readings from a street monitor — air right beside a busy road can be worse than the area-wide picture. The official index where you are is AirNow, from the US EPA. Official forecast: airnow.gov. Air quality data by Open-Meteo (CC BY 4.0), based on Copernicus CAMS.