Air quality in Sioux Falls
Most recent reading from the official reporting area covering Sioux Falls.
Preliminary readings from official networks, not fully validated. For health decisions follow your doctor and your local environmental agency.
AQI
52
Moderate (51 to 100)
Sioux Falls, SD · 10/15/26 23:00 CDT
Main pollutant
PM2.5
South Dakota Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources
What to do
Moderate (51 to 100)
Unusually sensitive people may cut back on outdoor effort.
Forecast
No records in the period queried.
Index
| Range | What to do |
|---|---|
| Good (0 to 50) | No health risk expected. |
| Moderate (51 to 100) | Unusually sensitive people may cut back on outdoor effort. |
| Unhealthy for sensitive groups (101 to 150) | Children, older adults and people with asthma or heart disease should reduce hard outdoor activity. |
| Unhealthy (151 to 200) | Everyone may feel effects; sensitive groups should stay indoors. |
| Very unhealthy (201 to 300) | Health alert: avoid outdoor exertion. |
| Hazardous (above 300) | Emergency conditions: stay in filtered air. |
Choose a city
- Sioux City82,821 inhabitants
How to read this page
How to read the AQI
Up to 50 the air is good, up to 100 moderate, above 100 it starts affecting sensitive groups. The Sioux Falls score reports the worst pollutant of the moment — right now, PM2.5, not the average of all of them.
Where the data comes from
The reading comes from the AirNow public archive (U.S. EPA), measured by South Dakota Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources, at the Sioux Falls, SD monitor, at 10/15/26 23:00 CDT.
Preliminary data, and distance
AirNow publishes measurements without final validation, not valid for regulatory use. And the monitor is not inside Sioux Falls: treat the number as an order of magnitude, not as a measure of your street.
What to do with a high index
With an index above 100, cut outdoor effort, close windows facing busy roads and follow the official band-by-band advice on the AirNow site.
Understanding air quality in Sioux Falls
Is the air in Sioux Falls good right now?
The nearest reading to Sioux Falls shows AQI 52 (Moderate (51 to 100)), measured at Sioux Falls, SD, 2 km from the centre, with PM2.5 as the leading pollutant.
In that band most people in Sioux Falls notice nothing, but anyone unusually sensitive to pollution may feel irritation during long outdoor effort.
What does an AQI of 52 mean for health in Sioux Falls?
Unusually sensitive people may cut back on outdoor effort. AQI is not a concentration: it is a 0-to-500 score that converts each pollutant’s measurement through breakpoints set by the EPA and reports the worst one. So an AQI of 52 in Sioux Falls can come from particulate matter one day and from ozone the next, and feel quite different. The monitor serving Sioux Falls is 2 km away: in a city of 171,544 the gap between a main road and a park can exceed that distance.
Words on this page
AQI
The United States Air Quality Index, 0 to 500, which converts each pollutant concentration into a single score and reports the worst one. Up to 50 is good, above 100 it starts to affect sensitive groups, above 150 it affects everyone. The score is not linear in concentration: it follows breakpoints set by the EPA.
Standard definition by U.S. EPA — AQI Technical Assistance Document · AQI
PM2.5
Particulate matter under 2.5 micrometres across, fine enough to reach the depths of the lung. It is the pollutant that most often sets the AQI, and it comes from burning: diesel engines, fire, wood stoves, industry.
Standard definition by U.S. EPA — AQI Technical Assistance Document · PM2.5
Ground-level ozone
Ozone formed near the ground when sunlight reacts with exhaust gases and solvents. It is not the ozone layer, which sits kilometres up and protects us: this one irritates the airways and rises on clear, hot, windless days.
Standard definition by U.S. EPA — AQI Technical Assistance Document · Ground-level ozone
UV index
An open-ended scale starting at 0 that measures the strength of ultraviolet radiation able to redden skin. From 3 to 5 protection is already advised, 8 to 10 is very high and above 11 is extreme. It depends on how high the Sun is, on the ozone layer, on altitude and on cloud.
Standard definition by WHO / WMO — Global Solar UV Index · UV index
Preliminary data
A measurement published as soon as it is collected, before the agency’s final review. It can be corrected or withdrawn: earthquake magnitudes shift in the first hours, air-quality readings are revised weeks later. Use it to plan your day, not for regulatory or legal purposes.
Data from 10/16/26, 4:23 AM UTC
- U.S. EPA AirNow (áreas de referência, arquivo público)Licence: Dado público da EPA, sujeito às AirNow Data Use Guidelines (atribuição obrigatória) · Credit: U.S. EPA AirNow e a agência estadual, tribal ou local que fez a mediçãoDados preliminares, sem validação final; não servem para fins regulatórios.
- GeoNames cities15000Licence: CC BY 4.0 · Credit: Dados de cidades: GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
- Dados de cidades: GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
How to read these numbers
The value is preliminary: networks publish a reading within about an hour and validate it later. It is good for deciding whether to go running today, not for legal comparison between years.
Frequently asked questions
- What is the air quality in Sioux Falls right now?
- The large number at the top is the latest reading from the reporting area that includes Sioux Falls, with the observation time beside it.
- What about tomorrow?
- Where the agency publishes a forecast, it appears in the day table. Forecasts are made by the network’s own meteorologists with a dispersion model.
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