Needles, California Air Quality
Needles air quality today — the AQI, the main pollutant, and whether it’s safe to exercise outside right now
Needles, CA · Air quality right now
The air quality index in Needles, CA is 34 (Good) right now — safe for outdoor activity.
Is it safe to be outside in Needles today?
AQI 34 Yes — air quality is Good
Air is clean — great for outdoor activity.Main pollutant: OzoneObserved 1:00 AM PDT
Pollutants right now
- PM2.52.6 µg/m³fine particles — smoke, exhaust, soot
- PM104.0 µg/m³coarse particles — dust, pollen, ash
- Ozone60 µg/m³Main pollutantsmog — builds on hot, sunny days
- NO₂5.9 µg/m³nitrogen dioxide — traffic, combustion
ExerciseOK to run — no air-quality limits on outdoor exercise.
How to read Needles’s air quality
Guides: The AQI Scale, Explained · Air Quality Alerts, Decoded · How to Read a Wildfire Smoke Map · Why Wildfire Smoke Travels 1,000 Miles.
Air quality over time in Needles
Across the EPA’s county records from 2020 to 2025, Needles’s cleanest year was 2023 (median AQI 71) and its most polluted was 2020 (median AQI 93); the typical (median) day has trended cleaner since 2020.
| Year | Median AQI | Unhealthy+ | Main pollutant | USG | Moderate | Good |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 93 | 87 | Ozone | 76 | 170 | 33 |
| 2021 | 87 | 73 | Ozone | 73 | 202 | 17 |
| 2022 | 77 | 63 | Ozone | 67 | 212 | 23 |
| 2023 | 71 | 51 | Ozone | 67 | 197 | 50 |
| 2024 | 87 | 88 | Ozone | 56 | 182 | 40 |
| 2025 | 77 | 43 | Ozone | 67 | 209 | 46 |
“USG” is Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups (AQI 101–150); “Unhealthy+” combines the Unhealthy, Very Unhealthy, and Hazardous days. In 2024 the EPA tightened the annual fine-particle (PM2.5) standard to 9 µg/m³ from the previous 12 µg/m³, so counties near the old limit read worse against the new one. Source: EPA AQS annual summaries, 2020–2025.
Frequently asked
- What was the worst year for air quality in Needles?
- In the EPA's 2020–2025 county records, 2020 had the most days above AQI 100: 163 days (76 Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups, 87 Unhealthy or worse). It also had the highest median AQI, 93.
- How many unhealthy air days does Needles have?
- Across 2020–2025, 37% of the days reported for Needles's county had an AQI above 100 (811 of 2192), about 135 days a year. 2025 had 110 days.
- What's the main air pollutant in Needles?
- Ozone: it drove Needles's county AQI on the most days in every year of the EPA's 2020–2025 records.