Does Boise Really Have Some of the WORST Air Quality in the U.S.

Even though there are a ton of people moving to Idaho it certainly isn't a place that you think of for air pollutions being out of control. Unfortunately, more people isn't always the cause of major issues and pollutants in the air. The American Lung Association is constantly checking air quality around the country saying, "For 23 years, the American Lung Association has analyzed data from official air quality monitors to compile the State of the Air report. The more you learn about the air you breathe, the more you can protect your health and take steps to make the air cleaner and healthier."

Coming in at #24 in their 'State of the Air" research is Boise City, Mountain Home, and the Ontario areas for the "Short-Term Particle Pollution" category. Here is the breakdown for what The American Lung Association study looked like for the Treasure Valley area:

-Ranked 117 for high ozone days out of 226 metropolitan areas
-Ranked 24 for 24-hour particle pollution out of 221 metropolitan areas
-Ranked 56 for annual particle pollution out of 202 metropolitan areas

Our big issue here in the northwest and certainly in the Boise area is when we end up with wildfire smoke. Something that we have had a ton of in the last few of years.

According to Idaho Statesman, "Boise didn’t make the other two lists, for ozone and long-term particulate matter pollution, which makes sense. Boise gets hit during wildfire season, when smoke from Idaho and other states settles in the Treasure Valley, hence the poor grades in daily spikes, not overall average pollution."

Last year we had weeks and weeks of horrible smoke from fires all around Idaho. See more about that here.