Air Quality in Racine, Wisconsin — Live

Live readings from PurpleAir sensors across Racine — with free alerts when lake-breeze ozone or wildfire smoke moves in.

Live Racine AQI from nearby PurpleAir sensors loads when this page opens in a browser, along with a live sensor map covering Racine and Mount Pleasant, Sturtevant, Caledonia, Wind Point.

Racine sits on the Lake Michigan shore almost exactly halfway between Chicago and Milwaukee, and that stretch of shoreline is the reason for the city's air quality story. Racine County is folded into the federal Milwaukee ozone nonattainment area, and on hot, sunny days from May through September the same lake breeze that cools the waterfront can trap ozone-forming pollution from Chicago, Gary, and Milwaukee right along the shore. Outside of that window, and outside the rare summer when wildfire smoke drifts down from Canada, Racine's air is unremarkable — this is a lake-breeze-and-ozone story, not a wildfire-smoke one.

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.

Racine is part of a federal ozone nonattainment area

Racine County — along with Milwaukee, Ozaukee, and parts of Washington, Waukesha, Sheboygan, and Kenosha counties — is designated nonattainment for the EPA's 2015 ozone health standard. The Wisconsin DNR reclassified the area from Moderate to Serious in December 2024, though the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit stayed that reclassification in September 2025, so Moderate requirements remain in effect while the case is litigated.

The DNR's own explanation for why is blunt: much of the ozone measured in these Wisconsin nonattainment areas originates from outside the state, or from sources the state has no authority to regulate, like vehicle traffic. Racine doesn't have to run its own smokestacks hot for its air to fail a federal standard — being downwind of two major metro areas is enough.

Why a lake breeze turns a clear day into an ozone day

Lake Michigan drives its own weather along this shoreline. On warm, sunny afternoons the air over the lake stays cooler than the air over land, and that temperature difference pulls a breeze in off the water. Researchers studying this same stretch of shoreline — comparing lakefront monitors in Kenosha and Sheboygan counties to sites just five or six kilometers inland — have measured ozone dropping by as much as 25 parts per billion over that short a distance, with lakefront readings reaching the 90s while inland monitors sat in the 60s at the same hour.

That's the mechanism at work in Racine too: ozone and its precursors drift out over the lake in the morning, then the afternoon lake breeze pushes that same polluted air back onshore and holds it along the immediate shoreline instead of letting it disperse inland. It's a May-through-September problem, tied to sun and heat, and it's why a still, sunny summer day here is a better predictor of a bad-air afternoon than anything happening locally.

The 2023 Canadian wildfire smoke was the exception, not the rule

In late June 2023, smoke from wildfires burning in Canada and northern Minnesota pushed into southeastern Wisconsin and stayed for days. The Wisconsin DNR extended its air quality advisory for PM2.5 and ozone through June 30, naming Racine and Kenosha counties specifically among the areas affected, and the City of Racine posted its own advisory telling residents to limit time outdoors and pointing people without air conditioning toward the Racine Public Library as a place to get out of the smoke.

It was part of a record year: Wisconsin issued 15 air quality advisories by mid-August 2023, the most since 2010, as Canada's worst wildfire season on record sent smoke deep into the Midwest. Days like that are still rare here — this isn't a city that lives with wildfire smoke every fall the way parts of California do — but 2023 showed that when a big enough fire burns far away, Racine's air can be affected regardless of the local ozone story.

Racine air quality FAQ

What is the air quality in Racine right now?

This page shows the current AQI for Racine, 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.

Why does Racine get ozone alerts in the summer?

Racine County is part of the federal Milwaukee ozone nonattainment area, and on hot, sunny days from May through September the lake breeze off Lake Michigan can trap ozone-forming pollution from Chicago and Milwaukee right along the shoreline instead of letting it disperse. That's why a still, sunny summer afternoon is Racine's most likely kind of bad-air day, more than anything burning locally.

Did wildfire smoke ever reach Racine?

Yes. In late June 2023, smoke from Canadian and northern Minnesota wildfires settled over southeastern Wisconsin for days, and the Wisconsin DNR's air quality advisory named Racine and Kenosha counties specifically. It was part of the worst run of air quality advisories Wisconsin had seen since 2010, but it remains the exception here rather than a yearly event.

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 Racine data come from?

Readings come from PurpleAir's network of laser particle sensors across Racine 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.