View real-time air quality data in Butte County for the following areas:
Chico • South Butte County • Paradise (Foothills)
Airnow’s Fire and Smoke Map showing active fires, smoke, and air quality (now includes Purple Air sensor data!).
Purple Air sensor map showing unofficial particulate sensor readings. The District is operating a Purple Air sensor in Biggs, Nord, Oroville, Palermo, Chico, Thermalito, Paradise, Magalia, Butte Valley and Durham. Data is unofficial and for informational use only. It is suggested to use the “US EPA” conversion in the bottom left for better accuracy.
Airfire monitoring website showing permanent and temporary monitors nation-wide. Includes hourly data and charts.
The state Air Resources Board AQMIS website can be used to find current or historical raw air quality data for Butte County, as well as any monitoring site in California. For official data and statistics, go to the state Air Resources Boad iADAM website.
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EnviroFlash gives you instant information that you can customize for your own needs, allowing you to protect the health of yourself and your family. Air quality information allows you to adjust your lifestyle when necessary on unhealthy air quality days. Up-to-date air quality information is especially helpful for those with sensitivities, such as the young, people with asthma, and the elderly.
Breathe Well Mobile App for real time ozone and fine particulate levels in your immediate area or throughout California.
Weather + Emissions = Pollutants
Weather combines with the emissions released into the air to produce pollutant concentrations. These airborne pollutant concentrations are measured at more than 250 air quality monitoring sites in California.
The California Air Resources Board (CARB) operates a statewide network of monitors. Data from this network is supplemented with data collected by local air districts, other public agencies, and private contractors. Currently, CARB monitors ambient concentrations of toxic air contaminants at 18 of these sites. Each year, over ten million air quality measurements from these sites are collected and stored in a comprehensive air quality database maintained by CARB. To ensure the integrity of the data, CARB routinely conducts audits and reviews of the monitoring instruments and the resulting data.
Monitoring in Butte County
In Butte County the two pollutants of most concern are fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and Ozone (O3). PM2.5 is a common wintertime pollutant and Ozone a summertime pollutant.
The Chico air monitoring site is located near commercial and residential areas on East Avenue, just east of Cohasset Road. The site monitors the following pollutants: meteorology, ozone, PM10, PM2.5, carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, lead, and air toxins.
CARB installed an ozone air monitoring station located at the Paradise Airport (pictured left) in 2000. The data was initially used as part of the California Transport Study. The study is tracking transport air pollution from the Bay Area and Sacramento metropolitan areas into the northern Sacramento Valley. The elevation of the station is 1250 feet above sea level and approximates that of the air monitoring station on the Sutter Buttes. The Sutter Buttes and Paradise monitors show overwhelming contributions of upwind emission (ozone transport) to downwind ozone concentrations. In 2008 a PM2.5 continuous (realtime data) monitor was installed at the Paradise Theater.
A PM2.5 continuous monitor has been in operation in South Butte County on Cowee Avenue since 2001.
The Butte County Annual Air Quality Reports:
2022 Annual Air Quality Report
2021 Annual Air Quality Report
2020 Annual Air Quality Report
2019 Annual Air Quality Report
2018 Annual Air Quality Report
