SmogRank / Episodes / United States
Eastern United States and Canada, November 2023
For 4 days, from 4 to 7 November 2023, 30 cities in the United States and Canada had PM2.5 at least twice their usual for the time of year. The worst reading was Dublin, Ohio, United States: 40.6 µg/m³ on 5 November, about 4.8× its usual 8.4. Ended 7 November.
No cause named We have no fire or smoke records for these days, so we only say what the measurements show.
Cities reached 30 in 2 countries
Days 4 4 to 7 November 2023
Worst day 5 November 22 cities counted
Furthest above usual 5.8× Hazard
Day by day
Play 5 November 22 cities at twice their usual or more
Somerset Cookeville Elizabethtown Harriman Lexington-Fayette Jeffersontown Loudon Middlesboro Valley Station Saint Matthews Jeffersonville Knoxville New Albany Athens Maryville Hendersonville Nashville Highland Heights Fort Thomas Cincinnati Clarksville Dent Norwood Columbia White Oak Jasper Oak Grove Columbus Sharonville Mason Kingsport Pikeville Huntsville Bloomington Lebanon Evansville Middletown Portsmouth Asheville Flatwoods Ashland Gainesville Kennesaw Dayton Decatur Gadsden McCordsville Lawrenceville Fishers Anderson Atlanta Springfield Candler-McAfee Greenville Athens Terre Haute Paducah McDonough Kokomo Gahanna Fairfield New Albany Lafayette Hickory Jackson Lima Hueytown Fort Wayne Columbia City Macon Dyersburg Savoy Warner Robins Charlotte Augusta Montgomery Clemmons Decatur Elkhart South Bend Winston-Salem Saint Andrews Lexington Toledo Dentsville Bartlett Portage Gary Tecumseh Hammond Bloomington Moundsville Calumet City Medina Hernando East Saint Louis Braidwood Granite City Marion St. Louis Springfield Wheeling West Memphis Kalamazoo Albany Oak Lawn Joliet Ypsilanti Chicago Steubenville Franklin Park Weirton Heights Warrensville Heights Redford Cleveland Heights Des Plaines Lansing Douglas Peoria Northbrook Holland Hudsonville Jenison Grand Rapids Warren Youngstown New Brighton Beaver Falls Kennedy Township Cary Painesville Zion Winthrop Harbor Pittsburgh Chatham New Baltimore Flint Hermitage Tallahassee South Milwaukee Port Huron Sarnia Greendale Milwaukee Ferry Pass Bay City Midway Brunswick Prichard Jackson Fairhope Hattiesburg St. Thomas Clinton Lake City London Erie Pascagoula Jacksonville Madison Fruit Cove Ponte Vedra Beach Gulfport Brantford Waveland Kitchener Baraboo Guelph Chalmette New Orleans Birmingham Spartanburg Columbus Valdosta Trussville Leeds Indianapolis Savannah Phenix City Windsor Louisville Rockford Westerville Chattanooga Cleveland East Chicago Columbus East Ridge Fairview Naperville Canton Charleston Sandersville Taylor Lincoln Park Waukesha Akron Detroit Dublin Hazard 1 Nov 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Every measured city in the area, coloured by its PM2.5 that day; a dark ring marks a city at twice its usual or more. Bars: cities counted each day, coloured by their median level. Choose a day or press play; without JavaScript, the days link to that day's world ranking.
How it spread
Columbus Columbus, 1 November: 8.2 µg/m³ Columbus, 2 November: 19.5 µg/m³ Columbus, 3 November: 30.6 µg/m³ Columbus, 4 November: 31.8 µg/m³, 3.8× its usual 8.3 Columbus, 5 November: 26.1 µg/m³, 3.1× its usual 8.4 Columbus, 6 November: 23.8 µg/m³ Columbus, 7 November: 29.7 µg/m³, 3.5× its usual 8.4 Columbus, 8 November: 20.2 µg/m³ Columbus, 9 November: 14.1 µg/m³ Columbus, 10 November: 13.0 µg/m³ Birmingham Birmingham, 1 November: 10.3 µg/m³ Birmingham, 2 November: 17.6 µg/m³ Birmingham, 3 November: 20.4 µg/m³ Birmingham, 4 November: 30.5 µg/m³, 2.5× its usual 12.1 Birmingham, 5 November: 33.0 µg/m³, 2.7× its usual 12.2 Birmingham, 6 November: 35.7 µg/m³, 2.9× its usual 12.4 Birmingham, 7 November: 27.6 µg/m³, 2.3× its usual 12.2 Birmingham, 8 November: 19.2 µg/m³ Birmingham, 9 November: 20.7 µg/m³ Birmingham, 10 November: 20.0 µg/m³ Fairview Fairview, 1 November: 8.2 µg/m³ Fairview, 2 November: 18.3 µg/m³ Fairview, 3 November: 18.9 µg/m³ Fairview, 4 November: 30.4 µg/m³, 3.4× its usual 9.0 Fairview, 5 November: 32.2 µg/m³, 3.5× its usual 9.1 Fairview, 6 November: 35.6 µg/m³, 3.9× its usual 9.1 Fairview, 7 November: 18.9 µg/m³ Fairview, 8 November: 16.6 µg/m³ Fairview, 9 November: 14.0 µg/m³ Fairview, 10 November: 8.3 µg/m³ East Ridge East Ridge, 1 November: 8.2 µg/m³ East Ridge, 2 November: 18.3 µg/m³ East Ridge, 3 November: 18.9 µg/m³ East Ridge, 4 November: 30.4 µg/m³, 3.4× its usual 9.0 East Ridge, 5 November: 32.2 µg/m³, 3.5× its usual 9.1 East Ridge, 6 November: 35.6 µg/m³, 3.9× its usual 9.1 East Ridge, 7 November: 18.9 µg/m³ East Ridge, 8 November: 16.6 µg/m³ East Ridge, 9 November: 14.0 µg/m³ East Ridge, 10 November: 8.3 µg/m³ Chattanooga Chattanooga, 1 November: 6.8 µg/m³ Chattanooga, 2 November: 18.6 µg/m³ Chattanooga, 3 November: 19.4 µg/m³ Chattanooga, 4 November: 27.4 µg/m³, 3.8× its usual 7.2 Chattanooga, 5 November: 14.2 µg/m³ Chattanooga, 6 November: 27.8 µg/m³, 3.7× its usual 7.5 Chattanooga, 7 November: 19.8 µg/m³ Chattanooga, 8 November: 17.4 µg/m³ Chattanooga, 9 November: 13.4 µg/m³ Chattanooga, 10 November: 7.9 µg/m³ Leeds Leeds, 1 November: 8.7 µg/m³ Leeds, 2 November: 9.0 µg/m³ Leeds, 3 November: 9.8 µg/m³ Leeds, 4 November: 26.2 µg/m³, 3.2× its usual 8.2 Leeds, 5 November: 14.5 µg/m³ Leeds, 6 November: 15.3 µg/m³ Leeds, 7 November: 16.0 µg/m³ Leeds, 8 November: 10.4 µg/m³ Leeds, 9 November: 11.9 µg/m³ Leeds, 10 November: 12.4 µg/m³ Trussville Trussville, 1 November: 8.7 µg/m³ Trussville, 2 November: 9.0 µg/m³ Trussville, 3 November: 9.8 µg/m³ Trussville, 4 November: 26.2 µg/m³, 3.2× its usual 8.2 Trussville, 5 November: 14.5 µg/m³ Trussville, 6 November: 15.3 µg/m³ Trussville, 7 November: 16.0 µg/m³ Trussville, 8 November: 10.4 µg/m³ Trussville, 9 November: 11.9 µg/m³ Trussville, 10 November: 12.4 µg/m³ Dublin Dublin, 1 November: 8.9 µg/m³ Dublin, 2 November: 11.7 µg/m³ Dublin, 3 November: 11.9 µg/m³ Dublin, 4 November: 21.1 µg/m³ Dublin, 5 November: 40.6 µg/m³, 4.8× its usual 8.4 Dublin, 6 November: 34.0 µg/m³, 4.0× its usual 8.6 Dublin, 7 November: 13.1 µg/m³ Dublin, 8 November: 18.7 µg/m³ Dublin, 9 November: 12.1 µg/m³ Dublin, 10 November: 9.1 µg/m³ Detroit Detroit, 1 November: 7.1 µg/m³ Detroit, 2 November: 11.8 µg/m³ Detroit, 3 November: 12.2 µg/m³ Detroit, 4 November: 16.5 µg/m³ Detroit, 5 November: 35.1 µg/m³, 4.8× its usual 7.3 Detroit, 6 November: 26.9 µg/m³, 3.5× its usual 7.7 Detroit, 7 November: 5.9 µg/m³ Detroit, 8 November: 5.4 µg/m³ Detroit, 9 November: 7.2 µg/m³ Detroit, 10 November: 9.3 µg/m³ Hazard Hazard, 1 November: 6.0 µg/m³ Hazard, 2 November: 6.7 µg/m³ Hazard, 3 November: 12.3 µg/m³ Hazard, 4 November: 21.3 µg/m³ Hazard, 5 November: 34.7 µg/m³, 5.8× its usual 6.0 Hazard, 6 November: 32.8 µg/m³, 5.5× its usual 6.0 Hazard, 7 November: 19.0 µg/m³ Hazard, 8 November: 29.0 µg/m³ Hazard, 9 November: 18.0 µg/m³ Hazard, 10 November: 8.0 µg/m³ Waukesha Waukesha, 1 November: 5.9 µg/m³ Waukesha, 2 November: 7.6 µg/m³ Waukesha, 3 November: 8.9 µg/m³ Waukesha, 4 November: 19.9 µg/m³ Waukesha, 5 November: 30.8 µg/m³, 4.6× its usual 6.7 Waukesha, 6 November: 7.1 µg/m³ Waukesha, 7 November: 3.8 µg/m³ Waukesha, 8 November: 7.6 µg/m³ Waukesha, 9 November: 5.1 µg/m³ Waukesha, 10 November: 6.9 µg/m³ Akron Akron, 1 November: 5.6 µg/m³ Akron, 2 November: 6.3 µg/m³ Akron, 3 November: 7.2 µg/m³ Akron, 4 November: 14.8 µg/m³ Akron, 5 November: 28.4 µg/m³, 4.7× its usual 6.1 Akron, 6 November: 15.9 µg/m³ Akron, 7 November: 6.8 µg/m³ Akron, 8 November: 4.3 µg/m³ Akron, 9 November: 7.2 µg/m³ Akron, 10 November: 8.6 µg/m³ Lincoln Park Lincoln Park, 1 November: 5.0 µg/m³ Lincoln Park, 2 November: 8.0 µg/m³ Lincoln Park, 3 November: 8.1 µg/m³ Lincoln Park, 4 November: 14.2 µg/m³ Lincoln Park, 5 November: 28.4 µg/m³, 4.6× its usual 6.2 Lincoln Park, 6 November: 19.9 µg/m³ Lincoln Park, 7 November: 4.4 µg/m³ Lincoln Park, 8 November: 4.4 µg/m³ Lincoln Park, 9 November: 5.4 µg/m³ Lincoln Park, 10 November: 6.3 µg/m³ Louisville Louisville, 1 November: 9.4 µg/m³ Louisville, 2 November: 12.4 µg/m³ Louisville, 3 November: 10.6 µg/m³ Louisville, 4 November: 13.1 µg/m³ Louisville, 5 November: 28.2 µg/m³, 3.6× its usual 7.8 Louisville, 6 November: 14.3 µg/m³ Louisville, 7 November: 14.6 µg/m³ Louisville, 8 November: 13.1 µg/m³ Louisville, 9 November: 8.5 µg/m³ Louisville, 10 November: 6.5 µg/m³ Windsor Windsor, 1 November: 5.3 µg/m³ Windsor, 2 November: 9.6 µg/m³ Windsor, 3 November: 9.7 µg/m³ Windsor, 4 November: 13.2 µg/m³ Windsor, 5 November: 28.1 µg/m³, 3.6× its usual 7.8 Windsor, 6 November: 20.9 µg/m³ Windsor, 7 November: 5.3 µg/m³ Windsor, 8 November: 4.6 µg/m³ Windsor, 9 November: 7.0 µg/m³ Windsor, 10 November: 9.3 µg/m³ Canton Canton, 1 November: 5.9 µg/m³ Canton, 2 November: 5.8 µg/m³ Canton, 3 November: 7.2 µg/m³ Canton, 4 November: 12.5 µg/m³ Canton, 5 November: 27.7 µg/m³, 4.0× its usual 6.9 Canton, 6 November: 19.7 µg/m³ Canton, 7 November: 7.3 µg/m³ Canton, 8 November: 5.3 µg/m³ Canton, 9 November: 8.5 µg/m³ Canton, 10 November: 8.7 µg/m³ Indianapolis Indianapolis, 1 November: 10.4 µg/m³ Indianapolis, 2 November: 10.8 µg/m³ Indianapolis, 3 November: 8.7 µg/m³ Indianapolis, 4 November: 14.0 µg/m³ Indianapolis, 5 November: 27.0 µg/m³, 3.2× its usual 8.5 Indianapolis, 6 November: 11.0 µg/m³ Indianapolis, 7 November: 11.0 µg/m³ Indianapolis, 8 November: 8.2 µg/m³ Indianapolis, 9 November: 10.3 µg/m³ Indianapolis, 10 November: 8.1 µg/m³ Westerville Westerville, 1 November: 6.6 µg/m³ Westerville, 2 November: 8.2 µg/m³ Westerville, 3 November: 8.2 µg/m³ Westerville, 4 November: 12.6 µg/m³ Westerville, 5 November: 26.6 µg/m³, 3.7× its usual 7.2 Westerville, 6 November: 21.8 µg/m³ Westerville, 7 November: 8.0 µg/m³ Westerville, 8 November: 12.8 µg/m³ Westerville, 9 November: 7.5 µg/m³ Westerville, 10 November: 6.9 µg/m³ Columbus Columbus, 1 November: 7.8 µg/m³ Columbus, 2 November: 8.7 µg/m³ Columbus, 3 November: 9.7 µg/m³ Columbus, 4 November: 12.6 µg/m³ Columbus, 5 November: 26.2 µg/m³, 3.1× its usual 8.4 Columbus, 6 November: 22.3 µg/m³ Columbus, 7 November: 9.8 µg/m³ Columbus, 8 November: 15.0 µg/m³ Columbus, 9 November: 8.4 µg/m³ Columbus, 10 November: 9.1 µg/m³ Taylor Taylor, 1 November: 4.8 µg/m³ Taylor, 2 November: 7.4 µg/m³ Taylor, 3 November: 7.4 µg/m³ Taylor, 4 November: 11.7 µg/m³ Taylor, 5 November: 26.1 µg/m³, 4.6× its usual 5.7 Taylor, 6 November: 18.0 µg/m³ Taylor, 7 November: 4.0 µg/m³ Taylor, 8 November: 3.6 µg/m³ Taylor, 9 November: 4.8 µg/m³ Taylor, 10 November: 5.8 µg/m³ Rockford Rockford, 1 November: 6.1 µg/m³ Rockford, 2 November: 9.8 µg/m³ Rockford, 3 November: 10.6 µg/m³ Rockford, 4 November: 21.3 µg/m³ Rockford, 5 November: 26.1 µg/m³, 3.7× its usual 7.0 Rockford, 6 November: 7.3 µg/m³ Rockford, 7 November: 5.2 µg/m³ Rockford, 8 November: 6.4 µg/m³ Rockford, 9 November: 5.7 µg/m³ Rockford, 10 November: 6.9 µg/m³ East Chicago East Chicago, 1 November: 8.1 µg/m³ East Chicago, 2 November: 8.3 µg/m³ East Chicago, 3 November: 8.1 µg/m³ East Chicago, 4 November: 15.8 µg/m³ East Chicago, 5 November: 25.6 µg/m³, 3.8× its usual 6.8 East Chicago, 6 November: 11.1 µg/m³ East Chicago, 7 November: 5.7 µg/m³ East Chicago, 8 November: 10.7 µg/m³ East Chicago, 9 November: 8.3 µg/m³ East Chicago, 10 November: 7.4 µg/m³ Cleveland Cleveland, 1 November: 5.1 µg/m³ Cleveland, 2 November: 8.8 µg/m³ Cleveland, 3 November: 8.8 µg/m³ Cleveland, 4 November: 13.9 µg/m³ Cleveland, 5 November: 25.4 µg/m³, 3.8× its usual 6.6 Cleveland, 6 November: 19.1 µg/m³ Cleveland, 7 November: 7.1 µg/m³ Cleveland, 8 November: 4.9 µg/m³ Cleveland, 9 November: 9.4 µg/m³ Cleveland, 10 November: 9.0 µg/m³ Spartanburg Spartanburg, 1 November: 5.2 µg/m³ Spartanburg, 2 November: 9.0 µg/m³ Spartanburg, 3 November: 13.9 µg/m³ Spartanburg, 4 November: 20.0 µg/m³ Spartanburg, 5 November: 25.2 µg/m³, 3.1× its usual 8.2 Spartanburg, 6 November: 19.7 µg/m³ Spartanburg, 7 November: 22.5 µg/m³ Spartanburg, 8 November: 22.4 µg/m³ Spartanburg, 9 November: 16.9 µg/m³ Spartanburg, 10 November: 15.1 µg/m³ Naperville Naperville, 1 November: 7.5 µg/m³ Naperville, 2 November: 8.9 µg/m³ Naperville, 3 November: 10.7 µg/m³ Naperville, 4 November: 20.5 µg/m³ Naperville, 5 November: 25.0 µg/m³, 4.0× its usual 6.2 Naperville, 6 November: 9.2 µg/m³ Naperville, 7 November: 7.0 µg/m³ Naperville, 8 November: 8.2 µg/m³ Naperville, 9 November: 6.1 µg/m³ Naperville, 10 November: 6.1 µg/m³ Sandersville Sandersville, 1 November: 5.5 µg/m³ Sandersville, 2 November: 6.1 µg/m³ Sandersville, 3 November: 7.2 µg/m³ Sandersville, 4 November: 8.4 µg/m³ Sandersville, 5 November: 17.6 µg/m³ Sandersville, 6 November: 30.2 µg/m³, 4.4× its usual 6.9 Sandersville, 7 November: 20.4 µg/m³ Sandersville, 8 November: 17.9 µg/m³ Sandersville, 9 November: 16.6 µg/m³ Sandersville, 10 November: 13.8 µg/m³ Savannah Savannah, 1 November: 7.1 µg/m³ Savannah, 2 November: 7.8 µg/m³ Savannah, 3 November: 9.6 µg/m³ Savannah, 4 November: 10.5 µg/m³ Savannah, 5 November: 18.7 µg/m³ Savannah, 6 November: 26.2 µg/m³, 3.3× its usual 7.9 Savannah, 7 November: 24.1 µg/m³ Savannah, 8 November: 24.5 µg/m³ Savannah, 9 November: 15.2 µg/m³ Savannah, 10 November: 13.7 µg/m³ Charleston Charleston, 1 November: 5.3 µg/m³ Charleston, 2 November: 5.7 µg/m³ Charleston, 3 November: 9.6 µg/m³ Charleston, 4 November: no reading Charleston, 5 November: no reading Charleston, 6 November: 25.8 µg/m³, 4.3× its usual 6.0 Charleston, 7 November: 16.0 µg/m³ Charleston, 8 November: 24.8 µg/m³ Charleston, 9 November: 15.0 µg/m³ Charleston, 10 November: 4.8 µg/m³ Phenix City Phenix City, 1 November: 5.7 µg/m³ Phenix City, 2 November: 13.6 µg/m³ Phenix City, 3 November: 15.0 µg/m³ Phenix City, 4 November: 17.2 µg/m³ Phenix City, 5 November: 19.7 µg/m³ Phenix City, 6 November: 18.8 µg/m³ Phenix City, 7 November: 27.0 µg/m³, 3.4× its usual 8.0 Phenix City, 8 November: 24.0 µg/m³ Phenix City, 9 November: 14.5 µg/m³ Phenix City, 10 November: 17.6 µg/m³ Valdosta Valdosta, 1 November: 6.6 µg/m³ Valdosta, 2 November: 6.9 µg/m³ Valdosta, 3 November: 5.4 µg/m³ Valdosta, 4 November: 8.4 µg/m³ Valdosta, 5 November: 14.6 µg/m³ Valdosta, 6 November: 20.8 µg/m³ Valdosta, 7 November: 26.0 µg/m³, 3.2× its usual 8.1 Valdosta, 8 November: 20.0 µg/m³ Valdosta, 9 November: 14.9 µg/m³ Valdosta, 10 November: 13.4 µg/m³ 1 Nov 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Every counted city, in the order the episode reached them, 3 days before to 3 after. Each square is a day, coloured by that day's PM2.5; outlined: at twice the city's usual or more. Good 0–50
Moderate 51–100
Sensitive groups 101–150
Unhealthy 151–200
Very unhealthy 201–300
Hazardous 301+
Every city it reached
City Days Highest Usual Above usual
Hazard Kentucky, United States 2 5 November 6.0 5.8× Dublin Ohio, United States 2 5 November 8.4 4.8× Detroit Michigan, United States 2 5 November 7.3 4.8× Akron Ohio, United States 1 5 November 6.1 4.7× Waukesha Wisconsin, United States 1 5 November 6.7 4.6× Lincoln Park Michigan, United States 1 5 November 6.2 4.6× Taylor Michigan, United States 1 5 November 5.7 4.6× Sandersville Georgia, United States 1 6 November 6.9 4.4× Charleston West Virginia, United States 1 6 November 6.0 4.3× Canton Ohio, United States 1 5 November 6.9 4.0× Naperville Illinois, United States 1 5 November 6.2 4.0× Fairview Georgia, United States 3 6 November 9.1 3.9× East Ridge Tennessee, United States 3 6 November 9.1 3.9× Columbus Georgia, United States 3 4 November 8.3 3.8× East Chicago Indiana, United States 1 5 November 6.8 3.8× Cleveland Ohio, United States 1 5 November 6.6 3.8× Chattanooga Tennessee, United States 2 6 November 7.5 3.7× Westerville Ohio, United States 1 5 November 7.2 3.7× Rockford Illinois, United States 1 5 November 7.0 3.7× Louisville Kentucky, United States 1 5 November 7.8 3.6× Windsor Ontario, Canada 1 5 November 7.8 3.6× Phenix City Alabama, United States 1 7 November 8.0 3.4× Savannah Georgia, United States 1 6 November 7.9 3.3× Indianapolis Indiana, United States 1 5 November 8.5 3.2× Leeds Alabama, United States 1 4 November 8.2 3.2× Trussville Alabama, United States 1 4 November 8.2 3.2× Valdosta Georgia, United States 1 7 November 8.1 3.2× Columbus Ohio, United States 1 5 November 8.4 3.1× Spartanburg South Carolina, United States 1 5 November 8.2 3.1× Birmingham Alabama, United States 4 6 November 12.4 2.9×
Daily means in µg/m³, over the days each city counted in this episode. Highest: its highest of those days. Usual: the city's median for the time of year of that day (its days within 21 days of the date, every year, leaving out the week around it). Above usual: its highest day against that, with a usual under 5 µg/m³ taken as 5.
Against other episodes in the United States and Canada
Number 45 of 173 episodes in the United States and Canada since our records began, by cities reached.
Eastern United States and Canada, June and July 2023 343 Northern United States and Canada, July 2026 327 United States and Canada, July 2023 322 Eastern United States and Canada, May and June 2023 317 North-eastern United States and Canada, 29 July to 9 August 2025 292 Northern United States and Canada, May and June 2025 247 United States and Canada, June 2023 195 North-western United States and Canada, August 2023 176 North-western United States and Canada, 4 to 22 August 2026 151 Northern United States and Canada, July 2025 139 Northern United States and Canada, June 2025 134 North-western United States and Canada, July and August 2026 118 Eastern United States and Canada, November 2023 30 Bars: cities reached; colour: the level of the episode's highest daily reading. All 173 .
Use this page SmogRank, Eastern United States and Canada, November 2023: 30 cities with PM2.5 at twice their usual or more, 4 to 7 November 2023, smogrank.com/episodes/2023-11-eastern-united-states-and-canada (accessed 5 October 2026).
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You're welcome to reuse a single chart, image or figure with this citation and a link. Terms .
An episode is a run of days when many cities close to each other (four or more within 350 km on a day, 8 or more in all) each had a daily PM2.5 mean of at least 25 µg/m³ and at least 2 times their usual for that time of year. Found in our own measurements, not picked by hand. How we find episodes . Values are each city's daily mean of its own monitors; causes are the usual kinds for a pattern like this, not a confirmed source.
