Air Quality in Memphis, Tennessee — Live

Live readings from PurpleAir sensors across Memphis — with free alerts when summer ozone climbs into unhealthy territory.

Live Memphis AQI from nearby PurpleAir sensors loads when this page opens in a browser, along with a live sensor map covering Memphis and Germantown, Collierville, Bartlett, Southaven.

Memphis's air is unremarkable for most of the year — it's summer that changes the math. Shelby County has pulled an "F" grade for ozone in recent American Lung Association State of the Air reports, with unhealthy ozone days concentrated in the hottest, stillest stretches of July and August. The reasons are baked into both the region's weather and its economy: a humid subtropical summer that's tailor-made for ground-level ozone, layered on top of a metro built around trucks, trains, and cargo jets.

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.

Memphis summers are Shelby County's ozone season

Ozone isn't emitted directly — it forms when sunlight cooks nitrogen oxides and volatile compounds that come mostly from vehicle and diesel exhaust, and Memphis produces plenty of both. The American Lung Association's State of the Air reports have given Shelby County an "F" grade for ozone in recent years, with unhealthy ozone days concentrated in the hottest stretches of summer.

That chemistry needs heat, sunlight, and calm air, which is exactly what a Mid-South summer supplies: a subtropical high-pressure ridge often parks over the region in July and August, bringing clear skies, light winds, and afternoon highs well into the 90s. Ozone typically peaks between 2 and 6 p.m. on those days, which is why an afternoon run is a worse idea here in August than it is in April.

The freight that built Memphis also feeds its air

Memphis International Airport has been one of the busiest cargo airports in the world for decades, anchored by FedEx's global superhub, and the region bills itself as the country's third-largest trucking corridor and fourth-largest inland port, where I-40, I-55, and I-240 all converge on the Mississippi River. All of that running diesel — trucks, freight rail, and cargo jets — is the metro's biggest source of the nitrogen oxides that turn into ozone on a hot afternoon.

It's also why Shelby County hosts one of the relatively small number of federally required "near-road" air monitors in the country, installed on the Southwest Tennessee Community College campus in 2013 specifically to measure pollution coming off the adjacent interstate. The county's Shelby Farms site has also run Tennessee's only NCore and PAMS advanced monitoring stations, operating since 2009 and 2021, tracking pollutants most of the state doesn't measure at all.

Even the Mid-South isn't immune to wildfire smoke

In June 2023, smoke from Canadian wildfires drifted more than a thousand miles south and pushed Memphis into an air quality alert, with local forecasters warning conditions could turn unhealthy for sensitive groups — part of the same smoke plume that put more than 120 million Americans across the Northeast, Midwest, and mid-Atlantic under alerts that month.

It was a genuine exception, not the rule. Memphis's day-to-day air problem is homegrown — summer ozone from heat, humidity, and traffic — rather than imported smoke, and most years pass without a repeat. But it's a reminder that a sensor network built for the ordinary local story is also what catches the unusual one.

Memphis air quality FAQ

What is the air quality in Memphis right now?

This page shows the current AQI for Memphis, calculated from PurpleAir sensors across the city and updated continuously. The map below shows every live sensor, so you can check the reading closest to your own neighborhood, from Downtown to Cordova.

Why does Memphis get smoggy in summer?

Ground-level ozone forms when sunlight cooks vehicle and freight exhaust on hot, still days, and Memphis has plenty of both: a humid subtropical summer where highs regularly clear 90°F, and a metro built around trucking, rail, and air freight. Shelby County has received an "F" grade for ozone from the American Lung Association in recent years, with unhealthy ozone days concentrated in July and August afternoons.

Does wildfire smoke ever reach Memphis?

It's rare, but it happened in June 2023, when smoke from Canadian wildfires drifted over a thousand miles south and pushed Memphis into an air quality alert for sensitive groups — part of the same plume that put more than 120 million Americans under alerts that month. Memphis's more common air problem is homegrown summer ozone, not imported smoke.

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.

Where does Canairy's Memphis data come from?

Readings come from PurpleAir's network of laser particle sensors across Memphis and surrounding towns, cross-referenced with government monitors and the Google Air Quality API. You can see every sensor behind your numbers on the live map - there's no black box.

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.

Get Canairy free on Google Play.