Air Quality in Henderson, Nevada — Live
Live readings from PurpleAir sensors across Henderson — with free alerts the moment the air turns.
Live Henderson AQI from nearby PurpleAir sensors loads when this page opens in a browser, along with a live sensor map covering Henderson and Green Valley, Anthem, Boulder City, Paradise, Whitney, Las Vegas.
Henderson shares the Las Vegas Valley's air, and it shares its regulatory status: the whole valley is tracked as Hydrographic Area 212, which was reclassified as a Serious nonattainment area for the 2015 ozone standard effective 21 January 2025 and has until 3 August 2027 to meet it. But Henderson also has something the rest of the valley does not. The Black Mountain Industrial Complex — a chemical manufacturing site in operation since 1942 — sits in unincorporated Clark County completely surrounded by the City of Henderson, and eight decades of heavy industry there have left a record that residents still remember by name.
Canairy watches the sensors around your home, your kids' school, and everywhere else you care about, and tells you in plain English when the air changes enough to matter.
The BMI complex and what came out of it
On 4 May 1988 a welding torch ignited a structure at PEPCON holding roughly 4,500 tons of ammonium perchlorate, the oxidiser used in rocket fuel. The explosions killed two people, caused about $74 million in property damage and destroyed the neighbouring Kidd Marshmallow plant; the site is a corporate park now. Three years later, at around one in the morning on 6 May 1991, a 150-ton storage tank at Pioneer Chlor Alkali leaked chlorine gas. The liquid chlorine expanded to 460 times its original volume and formed a large green cloud over the southeast valley, and more than 200 people were treated at hospitals. That plant still runs, as Olin Chlor Alkali, making bleach and hydrochloric acid.
The titanium plant has its own file. Between 1992 and 1998 TIMET emitted up to 360 tons of sulfur dioxide a year, and in 1999 it paid $430,000 for Clean Air Act violations. It has also been penalised over chlorine leaks in 1996 and 2012, in both cases for failing to notify authorities immediately. None of this is a description of the air today — it is the reason a lot of Henderson residents want to see a number rather than take anyone's word for it.
What the cleanup found, and what it didn't
The Nevada Environmental Response Trust was established in February 2011 to deal with the contamination left underneath the complex. Its main target is perchlorate, first detected in the Lower Colorado River in 1997 and traced back to groundwater beneath the former production sites; NERT removed 236,900 pounds of it in 2022 alone, out of more than 12.6 million pounds removed since detection. Hexavalent chromium was addressed by a treatment system installed back in the 1980s.
The question closest to home for residents was air, not groundwater. After the EPA recommended indoor air testing in September 2020, the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection directed NERT to sample indoor air in the Pittman neighbourhood for chloroform vapour. That sampling ran from March to May 2022 and the results, released in August 2022, concluded there is no unacceptable human health risk from vapour intrusion, with no health concerns for chloroform in the surrounding communities. It is a genuinely reassuring finding, and worth knowing about if you have heard the older version of the story.
The everyday stuff: ozone, dust and smoke from elsewhere
Day to day, Henderson's air behaves like the rest of the valley's. Ozone is the summer problem, forming when exhaust and vapours react in strong sunlight, and Clark County now issues a seasonal ozone and wildfire smoke advisory covering 1 April through 30 September — 2026 was the fourth consecutive year. Ground-level ozone exceeded EPA health standards on 18 days in the most recent year, down from 25 the year before.
Dust is the spring problem. Clark County issues a dust advisory when sustained winds of 25 mph with gusts of 40 mph or more are expected, and advises keeping windows and doors closed, running air conditioning to filter particles, and limiting outdoor activity while it blows. And smoke arrives from a long way off: in August 2025 the Gifford Fire near Santa Barbara pushed heavy smoke across the valley on southwest winds, and Clark County urged children, older residents and people with respiratory or heart conditions to stay indoors for several days.
Henderson air quality FAQ
Why is there smoke in Henderson today?
Most often a wildfire in California, carried east on southwest winds. In August 2025 the Gifford Fire burning north of Santa Barbara put heavy smoke over the Las Vegas Valley and Clark County advised children, older residents and people with respiratory or heart conditions to stay indoors through the rest of the week, limit outdoor exercise and keep windows and doors closed. Clark County now issues a seasonal wildfire smoke and ozone advisory running 1 April to 30 September, and 2026 was the fourth year in a row it has done so.
What is the air quality in Henderson right now?
This page shows the live AQI for Henderson, calculated from PurpleAir sensors around the city and updated continuously. Henderson sits at the southeast end of the valley, so readings here will not always match what a sensor in the northwest or on the Strip is showing — which is exactly the point of watching the sensors nearest you.
Is the air in Henderson affected by the old chemical plants?
The industrial history is real and well documented: the PEPCON explosion in May 1988, the Pioneer Chlor Alkali chlorine release in May 1991 that sent more than 200 people to hospital, and TIMET emitting up to 360 tons of sulfur dioxide a year between 1992 and 1998. On the question of whether contamination is reaching indoor air now, the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection had homes in the Pittman neighbourhood sampled for chloroform vapour between March and May 2022, and the results released that August found no unacceptable human health risk from vapour intrusion. Groundwater remediation for perchlorate is still active and ongoing.
Does Henderson have the same ozone problem as Las Vegas?
Yes — it is the same air basin and the same federal designation. Henderson sits inside Hydrographic Area 212, the Las Vegas Valley, which was reclassified as a Serious nonattainment area for the 2015 ozone standard effective 21 January 2025, with an attainment deadline of 3 August 2027. Ozone peaks on hot summer afternoons rather than cold mornings, because sunlight and heat are what drive the reaction that creates it.
What AQI level is unhealthy?
Under the US EPA scale, AQI 0–50 is Good and 51–100 is Moderate. From 101 the air is Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups — kids, older adults, and people with asthma or heart conditions — and above 150 it's Unhealthy for everyone. Canairy translates these numbers into a plain-English verdict, like whether to close the windows or move a workout indoors.
Is Canairy free?
Yes. The Canairy app is free to download and includes live air quality for all your saved places, plain-English verdicts, and free push alerts when the air crosses your threshold. A paid plan adds extras like SMS text alerts.
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