Air Quality in South Burlington, Vermont — Live

Live readings from PurpleAir sensors across South Burlington and the Champlain Valley — with free alerts the moment smoke moves in.

Live South Burlington AQI from nearby PurpleAir sensors loads when this page opens in a browser, along with a live sensor map covering South Burlington and Burlington, Winooski, Williston, Shelburne.

For most of the year, South Burlington's air is about as clean as it gets in the United States — Vermont has no major refineries or ports and only light traffic by national standards, and Lake Champlain's breezes keep the Champlain Valley well ventilated. That changed hard in June 2023, when smoke from wildfires burning hundreds of miles north in Quebec pushed Chittenden County's air into the "very unhealthy" range for hours at a stretch, a reminder that Burlington sits under 50 miles from the Canadian border and less than 100 from Montreal — closer to those fires than most Vermonters are used to thinking about.

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.

June 2023 brought Quebec's wildfires to Vermont's doorstep

Smoke arrived in two distinct waves that June. On June 5 and 6, the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation issued an air quality advisory as haze from wildfires burning across Quebec, Ontario, Nova Scotia, and Alberta rolled south; Bennett Leon, the state's air quality chief, called it "the first time this year it affected Vermont so heavily." Three weeks later, overnight from June 25 into the morning of June 26, Burlington's air was rated "very unhealthy" by EPA standards for hours at a stretch — a level state officials said may have set a Vermont record for wildfire smoke pollution.

The closeness of the source was the story. Schools in the area responded differently depending on their read of the air: Williston Central moved PE classes indoors for grades 3 through 8 during the early-June smoke, while Champlain Valley School District kept its usual 20-minute recess outside. One student summed up what made this smoke different from the Western wildfire coverage Vermonters were used to seeing on the news: "It's different that it's close."

Winter adds a second, quieter source: wood heat

Vermont heats with wood more than any other state — 13% of Vermont households burn wood as their primary heating fuel, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, more than ten times the national average of 1.3%. That's more a rural-Vermont statistic than a South Burlington one, but the city sits at the bottom of the Champlain Valley, downwind of the wood-burning towns that ring it, and on the coldest, stillest nights that smoke has nowhere to go.

The Vermont Department of Health lists "thermal inversions" alongside ozone and particle pollution as one of the three conditions that can trigger a statewide air quality alert, and its guidance for those days is blunt: cut back on driving, skip the gas-powered yard equipment, and don't burn leaves or trash outside. It's a lower-grade problem than a smoke-choked June, showing up quietly a few times most winters rather than as one dramatic week.

A lake to the west, mountains on both sides

South Burlington sits inside the Champlain Valley, with Lake Champlain and Shelburne Bay forming its western edge, the Green Mountains rising to the east, and New York's Adirondacks visible across the water. That open lake frontage gives the city a milder, more ventilated setting than valley towns boxed in on all sides — this isn't a spot that regularly traps its own exhaust and wood smoke the way a mountain-ringed valley can.

But the same flat, low corridor that keeps local air moving also gives outside smoke an easy path in. The Quebec smoke of June 2023 crossed nothing but farmland and open water on its way south, and when the wind sets up out of the north, South Burlington has essentially no terrain to slow it down before it arrives.

South Burlington air quality FAQ

What is the air quality in South Burlington right now?

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

Why did Canadian wildfire smoke hit South Burlington so hard in June 2023?

Vermont sits close to Quebec — Burlington is under 50 miles from the border and less than 100 from Montreal — so smoke from a bad Quebec fire season has a short, flat path south. In June 2023, two separate waves of smoke from wildfires burning in Quebec, Ontario, Alberta, and Nova Scotia pushed Chittenden County's air to "very unhealthy" levels that state officials said may have set a Vermont record for wildfire smoke pollution.

Does South Burlington get wood smoke in winter?

Vermont heats with wood more than any other state — about 13% of households burn wood as their primary heat source, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. South Burlington itself is more suburban than rural Vermont, but on the coldest, stillest nights smoke from surrounding towns can settle into the valley, which is why the Vermont Department of Health lists thermal inversions alongside ozone and particle pollution as one of its three air quality alert triggers.

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 South Burlington data come from?

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