Somerset County, Maine air quality history
Daily Air Quality Index summaries from EPA monitors in Somerset, Maine, 1988–1996.
In 1996, EPA reported a daily Air Quality Index (AQI) for Somerset, Maine on 226 days. 214 of those days (95%) were in the Good range, and the median daily AQI was 31. That median is lower than the typical monitored county in Maine (median 34 across 13 counties), and lower than the typical monitored U.S. county (39). The main pollutant was ozone on 211 days. Across the years with fuller monitoring, the share of Good days held roughly steady: an average of 93% in 1991–1993 versus 92% in 1994–1996.
EPA did not report an AQI for every day of 1996 here (226 of 366 days). Figures describe monitored days only; seasonal monitoring (for example, ozone measured only in warmer months) can make a county look cleaner or dirtier than a full-year record would.
The most recent year with data for this county is 1996; EPA's files for 1997–2025 contain no row for it, which usually means its monitors stopped reporting.
Years with fewer than 120 monitored days (1988, 1989, 1990) are shown in the table but left out of comparisons and trend statements.
How the days broke down each year
Each bar is one year. The colored segments show the share of monitored days that fell in each AQI category.
- Good
- Moderate
- Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups
- Unhealthy
- Very Unhealthy
- Hazardous
Typical and high-end AQI over time
The median is the middle day of the year. The 90th percentile is the level that only the highest 10% of days exceeded.
- Median daily AQI
- 90th-percentile daily AQI
Main pollutant by day, 1996
On each monitored day, the AQI reflects whichever measured pollutant had the highest index. This counts how many days each pollutant set the AQI. A pollutant that was not measured here cannot appear.
| Pollutant | Days as main pollutant | Share of monitored days |
|---|---|---|
| Ozone | 211 | 93% |
| Coarse particles (PM10) | 15 | 7% |
Year-by-year data
| Year | Days with AQI | Good | Moderate | Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups | Unhealthy | Very Unhealthy | Hazardous | Median AQI | 90th pct. | Max AQI | Main pollutant |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | 226 | 214 | 9 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 31 | 48 | 150 | Ozone |
| 1995 | 232 | 213 | 17 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 29 | 48 | 133 | Ozone |
| 1994 | 224 | 201 | 19 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 32 | 51 | 126 | Ozone |
| 1993 | 233 | 221 | 8 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 29 | 45 | 154 | Ozone |
| 1992 | 236 | 220 | 11 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 30 | 47 | 156 | Ozone |
| 1991 | 230 | 206 | 20 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 31 | 51 | 182 | Ozone |
| 1990 | 61 | 61 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 20 | 38 | PM10 |
| 1989 | 58 | 58 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 26 | 36 | PM10 |
| 1988 | 23 | 22 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 32 | 51 | PM10 |
What this data can and can’t tell you
It is a county-level summary. EPA reports one AQI per day for the county, based on the monitors operating there. Air at a particular street, school or home can differ, especially near roads, industry or wildfire smoke.
It is not a health assessment. The AQI is EPA’s scale for communicating daily air quality. A county’s history can’t tell you what the health risk is for any particular person. For daily conditions and health guidance, see AirNow.
Rules change over time. EPA has revised AQI breakpoints, most recently for fine particles in 2024, so some year-to-year change can reflect the scale rather than the air.
All monitored counties in Maine
Source: U.S. EPA AirData, “Annual AQI by County” files for 1988–1996 (EPA download page). EPA file dates: 2026-06-26. Imported into EnviroNearby November 5, 2026. How we use this data · Report a problem