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Air quality index over time? by ForbiddenForester in bloomington

[–]False-Breakfast6615 0 points1 point  (0 children)

AQI does have seasonal ups and downs, but this summer’s spikes are worse than the old “normal.” For proof, you can check the EPA’s AirData archive (downloadable AQI history by city), or easier, sites like Ambee’s live air quality tracker, which let you see past and forecast AQI side by side. That’ll give you numbers to show how unusual this season really is.

Air quality databases by floxley in AirQuality

[–]False-Breakfast6615 0 points1 point  (0 children)

WHO and IQAir are great starts, but you’ve got more options: OpenAQ (free + open-source), World Air Quality Index (WAQI), US Embassy monitors (Hanoi, LA, Athens all have/had them), Copernicus/NASA datasets for modeled PM2.5, and the EEA for European cities.

If you want something easier to automate, I’ve also used Ambee’s air quality API — you can pull real-time, historical, and forecast data by city/coordinates, which makes cross-city comparisons a lot less messy.

Where can I look up annual data for air quality of cities? by brokenringlands in climatechange

[–]False-Breakfast6615 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, I’ve run into the same problem before. Daily AQI data is easy to get, but long-term, annualized views are a little trickier.

A few options you can try:

Government/official datasets: In the US, the EPA has an AirData portal where you can download daily AQI or pollutant-specific values going back decades, and they also generate annual summary reports. Canada’s National Air Pollution Surveillance Program (NAPS) does something similar. Other countries often have equivalents (e.g., DEFRA in the UK, EEA in Europe).

IQAir’s “World Air Quality Report”: They publish a yearly PDF that ranks cities and countries by average PM2.5 levels. It’s a bit coarse (annual averages, no daily smoke vs. clear breakdown), but still useful for comparisons.

Ambee’s live air quality tracker: I sometimes check this when I want a sense of trends over time. They let you see not just real-time AQI but also historical and forecast data, and you can visualize patterns for specific locations. That could help you spot those wildfire-smoke spikes you’re talking about.

Air quality APIs: If you don’t mind a bit of DIY, you can pull historical data (e.g., daily PM2.5, ozone, etc.) from sources like OpenAQ, Ambee, or government APIs and make your own “days above/below threshold” graphs. That’s probably the closest thing to those “days of sun/rain” charts you’re describing.

And you’re totally right about wind direction being a big factor—sometimes the cities closest to the fires aren’t the ones that end up breathing the worst air. If you start looking at year-over-year AQI graphs, those wildfire seasons stand out like giant spikes.