Keene, NH Air Quality

EPA monitor data through 2025 · Updated September 02, 2026 · Methods

In 2025, Keene, NH recorded 2 days above an Air Quality Index of 100, the level at which EPA begins warning sensitive groups, out of 365 days with monitoring data. The rest of the year was 288 Good days and 75 Moderate days. Most of the bad days were driven by fine particles. Under the AQI rules that applied before 2013, the same air would have scored 1 days. Since 2000, unhealthy days are 0% higher on a consistent definition.

Unhealthy days, 2025
2
AQI above 100
Same air, pre-2013 rules
1
for comparison with older reports
Good-air days
288
AQI 50 or below
Days monitored
365
full year

Unhealthy days by year, scored two ways

EPA changed what an AQI of 100 means in 2013 and again in 2015, so a count published before those changes is not comparable to one published after. Each panel below applies a single fixed rulebook to every year, so each is internally consistent. Why this matters.

Scored by today's rules

Keene, NH: days above AQI 100 by year, current rules 0 3 6 9 12 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020 2025 2000: 1 days 2001: 5 days 2002: 11 days 2003: 4 days 2004: 3 days (incomplete monitoring) 2005: 4 days (incomplete monitoring) 2006: 2 days (incomplete monitoring) 2007: 5 days (incomplete monitoring) 2008: 3 days (incomplete monitoring) 2009: 2 days 2010: 1 days 2011: 4 days 2012: 2 days 2013: 3 days 2014: 1 days 2015: 1 days 2016: 1 days 2017: 0 days 2018: 0 days 2019: 0 days 2020: 0 days 2021: 1 days 2022: 0 days 2023: 2 days 2024: 0 days 2025: 2 days

Scored by the pre-2013 rules

Keene, NH: days above AQI 100 by year, pre-2013 rules 0 3 6 9 12 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020 2025 2000: 1 days 2001: 3 days 2002: 9 days 2003: 2 days 2004: 2 days (incomplete monitoring) 2005: 2 days (incomplete monitoring) 2006: 0 days (incomplete monitoring) 2007: 2 days (incomplete monitoring) 2008: 2 days (incomplete monitoring) 2009: 0 days 2010: 0 days 2011: 1 days 2012: 0 days 2013: 0 days 2014: 0 days 2015: 1 days 2016: 0 days 2017: 0 days 2018: 0 days 2019: 0 days 2020: 0 days 2021: 1 days 2022: 0 days 2023: 1 days 2024: 0 days 2025: 1 days
Faded columns mark years with fewer than 300 monitored days, where the count is not comparable.

Ozone since 1990

The index counts above only start in 2000, because nationwide fine-particle monitoring did not exist before 1999 and an index without it would measure the monitoring network rather than the air. Ozone does have a 35-year record. This is Keene, NH's, from EPA's long-running trend monitors: 74 ppb in 1990 to 60 ppb in 2024, 19% lower.

Peak ozone, 1990 to 2024

Keene, NH: peak ozone by year since 1990, ppb 0 20 40 60 80 1994 2004 2014 2024 1990: 74 ppb 1991: 81 ppb 1992: 77 ppb 1993: 80 ppb 1994: 77 ppb 1995: 71 ppb 1996: 82 ppb 1997: 75 ppb 1998: 73 ppb 1999: 79 ppb 2000: 63 ppb 2001: 74 ppb 2002: 84 ppb 2003: 71 ppb 2004: 69 ppb 2005: 74 ppb 2006: 67 ppb 2007: 73 ppb 2008: 68 ppb 2009: 62 ppb 2010: 64 ppb 2011: 62 ppb 2012: 63 ppb 2013: 63 ppb 2014: 60 ppb 2015: 59 ppb 2016: 66 ppb 2017: 64 ppb 2018: 61 ppb 2019: 53 ppb 2020: 50 ppb 2021: 59 ppb 2022: 59 ppb 2023: 60 ppb 2024: 60 ppb 70 ppb standard
Annual fourth-highest daily maximum 8-hour ozone, parts per billion, averaged across 1 long-running monitor in the area. The dashed line is the current standard, 70 ppb. Holding the monitor set still is what makes a 35-year comparison meaningful, and it is also why these values differ from the design value used for compliance. Source: EPA air quality statistics by city.

What 2025 looked like

Air quality categoryDaysShare of days with an AQI
Good28879%
Moderate7520%
Unhealthy for sensitive groups21%
Unhealthy or worse00%

Median AQI 37 · 90th-percentile AQI 57 · worst day 115. Scored under current rules, out of 365 days with an AQI.

What drove the unhealthy days

Of the 2 days above 100 in 2025, 0 were driven by ozone and 2 by fine particles. The two behave differently. Ozone peaks on hot sunny afternoons; fine particles now spike mainly with wildfire smoke.

The unhealthy days in 2025

Every day the index passed 100, what it reached, and which pollutant drove it. 1 of these 2 would not have counted as unhealthy under the pre-2013 rules.

DatePeak AQIDriven byPre-2013 score
Jul 26115Fine particles 103
Aug 5109Fine particles 96 (not unhealthy)

Statewide context

Keene, NH sits in New Hampshire.

Days in each air quality category, by year

How many days fell in each AQI category, for every year with an AQI on record. Categories are scored under EPA's current breakpoints. A year with fewer than 300 days is marked, because a short year lowers every count for reasons that have nothing to do with the air.

YearGoodModerate Unhealthy for sensitive groupsUnhealthy or worse Days with an AQI
2000 (partial) 210350 1246
2001 (partial) 157584 1220
2002 (partial) 155479 2213
2003 (partial) 160504 0214
2004 (partial) 181293 0213
2005 (partial) 162484 0214
2006 (partial) 167462 0215
2007 (partial) 158505 0213
2008 (partial) 202853 0290
2009 2121462 0360
2010 2361281 0365
2011 2091524 0365
2012 2591052 0366
2013 2411213 0365
2014 2071571 0365
2015 2241400 1365
2016 290751 0366
2017 298660 0364
2018 300650 0365
2019 331340 0365
2020 299670 0366
2021 2641001 0365
2022 304610 0365
2023 2541082 0364
2024 302640 0366
2025 288752 0365

Good is AQI 0–50, Moderate 51–100, Unhealthy for sensitive groups 101–150. “Unhealthy or worse” combines the Unhealthy, Very Unhealthy and Hazardous categories, which are shown together because most areas record too few of each to report separately. The four columns sum to the last one by construction. These counts exclude sulphur dioxide, following EPA, which drops SO₂ from county and metro summaries because it is too localized to describe a whole area.

The full series

The same years scored two ways, with the pollutant that drove the days above 100. EPA's files record which pollutant set each day's AQI; they do not attribute days to wildfire smoke, so no column here claims to.

YearUnhealthy days, current rulesOf which ozone Of which fine particlesPre-2013 rulesDays monitored
20001 1 0 1350
20015 5 0 3363
200211 10 1 9362
20034 4 0 2365
20043 3 0 2263
20054 4 0 2214
20062 2 0 0215
20075 5 0 2213
20083 2 1 2290
20092 1 1 0360
20101 0 1 0365
20114 0 4 1365
20122 1 1 0366
20133 0 3 0365
20141 1 0 0365
20151 0 1 1365
20161 1 0 0366
20170 0 0 0364
20180 0 0 0365
20190 0 0 0365
20200 0 0 0366
20211 0 1 1365
20220 0 0 0365
20232 0 2 1364
20240 0 0 0366
20252 0 2 1365

Sources