Keene Clean Air

Current situation at 12:37 pm: I talked yesterday with Dan Mitchell on WKBK about how wildfires are raging in Oregon now and will this impact us? The atmospheric river that moves air has to go in the right direction and there needs to be mixing to get it from 6000ft to ground level. That’s why community monitoring is a crucial piece of the puzzle. I thought it was weird that our ground level concentrations are 2x higher than a typical Keene summer day so I checked the NOAA smoke models. There’s about 6 ug/m3 (concentration) contributed by the Oregon smoke!! I’ll be tracking it but I suspect all the rain will intervene and keep air pollution at bay. Stay healthy!

Another beautiful clean air day! Enjoy! Does this mean clean air for the rest of the summer? Hard to say. If you want to hear more about wildfires and how to clean your indoor air to protect you and your pets, I’ll be speaking with Dan Mitchell 9 am Monday morning on WKBK.

Note the real time screenshots below - wildfires are still spread out and very intense in the USA 🇺🇸 (northern MN and the Pacific Northwest), and we are mid summer. Hope you’ll dial in Monday morning to learn more!

10 am Monday morning update: air quality is good and the wildfire smoke is trending south of Philadelphia. Enjoy the day!

Since this wildfire situation may continue, I’m going to post in the comments a DIY resource to build a powerful indoor air cleaner. Indoor air filtration is important bc homes in NH are leaky and also filtration will remove dust, pollen, pet hair, and smoke from cooking! It’s important for anyone with asthma, diabetes, or heart disease to limit exposure to particles. Stay healthy out there!

11 am Sunday 7/19/26 We are “no news is good news” kind of posters, but it’s good to confirm that air quality is very good today. Enjoy the day! High pressure is moving the smoke south. The fires 🔥 in Canada and the 🇺🇸 (it’s not all Canada btw) are still burning however. So it’s a day to day forecasting thing. We will check in tomorrow morning on the beginning of the week. Happy Sunday! ⚽️🏟️⚽️

1:05 pm update: air quality in our area has deteriorated to UNHEALTHY for all - avoid prolong exertion. Sensitive groups (asthma, cardiopulmonary disease, children, elderly) use extra caution and stay indoors if possible. The rest of the Northeast is under the same alert. Stay safe out there!

9:20 am Saturday update (7/18/26). Keene area air quality is very good NOW but note just south of us and Boston is NOT good. Air quality will degrade in Keene today and there’s an alert for all NH for unhealthy for sensitive groups (preexisting conditions, children, elderly). Morning is best today for exercise or mowing the lawn. So much of the USA 🇺🇸 is still dealing with extreme pollution. Stay safe out there!

11 am update: 7/17/26 Today is a good air quality day. Winds are favorable for our area and high pressure keeping the smoke to our south. But the 🔥and smoke is still raging to our West 😔 and exposing millions of people. If you want updates for our area over the weekend and into next week, please follow this page. For today, get some sun ☀️. Stay safe out there!

3:20 pm 7/16/26 update: air quality in the Keene region is unhealthy for sensitive groups (folks w/health conditions, elderly, young children), and a bit worse than yesterday afternoon. Stay indoors if possible, limit exertion outdoors. Tomorrow should improve. Unbelievable swath of hazardous levels of smoke that is concerning to people across the USA 💔. A reminder how we only have one planet 🌎. Stay safe!

8:30 am Thursday morning update. Keene is on the left, zoomed out on the right. So far so good (love to see blue skies) but smoke levels are creeping up. Greenfield MA is already much higher so Southern NH will see increasing concentrations. Today is another day for folks with preexisting conditions to limit exertion. Take care of pets too - their lungs are smaller and they breathe faster. NYC metro getting hit worse and many Midwest states air quality is severely hazardous.

4:30 pm update: While it’s likely to repeat tomorrow, right now air quality is improving for Southwest NH and Keene as the trough of air is being funneled from Canada
🇨🇦 to our south - to NYC metro. Our Midwest fellow Americans 🇺🇸 in Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin are in severely hazardous conditions from the smoke as our Canadian 🇨🇦 neighbors surrounding Toronto 😔. Pic on the left is Keene. Pic on the right is zoomed out. Stay safe out there!