SmogRank / Episodes / United States
North-eastern United States, November 2023
For 1 day, on 5 November 2023, 16 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.
No cause named We have no fire or smoke records for these days, so we only say what the measurements show.
Cities reached 16 in 2 countries
Days 1 5 November 2023
Worst day 5 November 16 cities counted
Furthest above usual 4.8× Dublin
Day by day
Play 5 November 16 cities at twice their usual or more
Anderson Kokomo Fishers Lima Elkhart Dayton Middletown South Bend White Oak Mason Lebanon Columbus Springfield Lafayette Norwood Cincinnati Kalamazoo Fort Thomas Bloomington Toledo Portage Lansing Ypsilanti Gary Holland Jenison Grand Rapids Jeffersonville Saint Matthews New Albany Gahanna Hammond Jeffersontown Terre Haute Calumet City Valley Station Redford Lexington-Fayette Chicago Oak Lawn Jasper Flint Franklin Park Portsmouth Joliet Northbrook Des Plaines Zion Ashland Cary Medina South Milwaukee Evansville Chatham Milwaukee Port Huron Sarnia Bloomington Cleveland Heights Shaker Heights Decatur Painesville Charleston Peoria Warren Springfield Wheeling St. Thomas Steubenville Youngstown London Weirton Heights Hermitage Madison Clinton Upper Alton Pittsburgh Granite City East Saint Louis Moline St. Louis Wilkinsburg Erie West Mifflin McKeesport Davenport University City Lemay Brantford Arnold Waterdown Columbus Indianapolis Windsor Louisville Westerville Rockford Cleveland East Chicago Canton Naperville Detroit Waukesha Taylor Lincoln Park Akron Dublin 2 Nov 3 4 5 6 7 8 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
Dublin Dublin, 2 November: 11.7 µg/m³, 1.4× usual Dublin, 3 November: 11.9 µg/m³, 1.4× usual Dublin, 4 November: 21.1 µg/m³, 2.5× usual Dublin, 5 November: 40.6 µg/m³, 4.8× usual Dublin, 6 November: 34.0 µg/m³, 4.0× usual Dublin, 7 November: 13.1 µg/m³, 1.6× usual Dublin, 8 November: 18.7 µg/m³, 2.2× usual Waukesha Waukesha, 2 November: 7.6 µg/m³, 1.1× usual Waukesha, 3 November: 8.9 µg/m³, 1.3× usual Waukesha, 4 November: 19.9 µg/m³, 3.0× usual Waukesha, 5 November: 30.8 µg/m³, 4.6× usual Waukesha, 6 November: 7.1 µg/m³, 1.1× usual Waukesha, 7 November: 3.8 µg/m³, 0.6× usual Waukesha, 8 November: 7.6 µg/m³, 1.1× usual Detroit Detroit, 2 November: 10.5 µg/m³, 1.4× usual Detroit, 3 November: 10.8 µg/m³, 1.5× usual Detroit, 4 November: 14.3 µg/m³, 2.0× usual Detroit, 5 November: 30.8 µg/m³, 4.2× usual Detroit, 6 November: 24.5 µg/m³, 3.4× usual Detroit, 7 November: 5.5 µg/m³, 0.8× usual Detroit, 8 November: 4.7 µg/m³, 0.6× usual Windsor Windsor, 2 November: 9.8 µg/m³, 1.2× usual Windsor, 3 November: 10.1 µg/m³, 1.2× usual Windsor, 4 November: 13.4 µg/m³, 1.7× usual Windsor, 5 November: 28.8 µg/m³, 3.6× usual Windsor, 6 November: 21.3 µg/m³, 2.6× usual Windsor, 7 November: 5.7 µg/m³, 0.7× usual Windsor, 8 November: 4.7 µg/m³, 0.6× usual Akron Akron, 2 November: 6.3 µg/m³, 1.0× usual Akron, 3 November: 7.2 µg/m³, 1.2× usual Akron, 4 November: 14.8 µg/m³, 2.4× usual Akron, 5 November: 28.4 µg/m³, 4.7× usual Akron, 6 November: 15.9 µg/m³, 2.6× usual Akron, 7 November: 6.8 µg/m³, 1.1× usual Akron, 8 November: 4.3 µg/m³, 0.7× usual Lincoln Park Lincoln Park, 2 November: 8.0 µg/m³, 1.3× usual Lincoln Park, 3 November: 8.1 µg/m³, 1.3× usual Lincoln Park, 4 November: 14.2 µg/m³, 2.3× usual Lincoln Park, 5 November: 28.4 µg/m³, 4.6× usual Lincoln Park, 6 November: 19.9 µg/m³, 3.2× usual Lincoln Park, 7 November: 4.4 µg/m³, 0.7× usual Lincoln Park, 8 November: 4.4 µg/m³, 0.7× usual Louisville Louisville, 2 November: 12.4 µg/m³, 1.6× usual Louisville, 3 November: 10.6 µg/m³, 1.4× usual Louisville, 4 November: 13.1 µg/m³, 1.7× usual Louisville, 5 November: 28.2 µg/m³, 3.6× usual Louisville, 6 November: 14.3 µg/m³, 1.8× usual Louisville, 7 November: 14.6 µg/m³, 1.9× usual Louisville, 8 November: 13.1 µg/m³, 1.7× usual Canton Canton, 2 November: 5.8 µg/m³, 0.8× usual Canton, 3 November: 7.2 µg/m³, 1.0× usual Canton, 4 November: 12.5 µg/m³, 1.8× usual Canton, 5 November: 27.7 µg/m³, 4.0× usual Canton, 6 November: 19.7 µg/m³, 2.9× usual Canton, 7 November: 7.3 µg/m³, 1.1× usual Canton, 8 November: 5.3 µg/m³, 0.8× usual Indianapolis Indianapolis, 2 November: 10.8 µg/m³, 1.3× usual Indianapolis, 3 November: 8.7 µg/m³, 1.0× usual Indianapolis, 4 November: 14.0 µg/m³, 1.6× usual Indianapolis, 5 November: 27.0 µg/m³, 3.2× usual Indianapolis, 6 November: 11.0 µg/m³, 1.3× usual Indianapolis, 7 November: 11.0 µg/m³, 1.3× usual Indianapolis, 8 November: 8.2 µg/m³, 1.0× usual Westerville Westerville, 2 November: 8.2 µg/m³, 1.1× usual Westerville, 3 November: 8.2 µg/m³, 1.1× usual Westerville, 4 November: 12.6 µg/m³, 1.8× usual Westerville, 5 November: 26.6 µg/m³, 3.7× usual Westerville, 6 November: 21.8 µg/m³, 3.0× usual Westerville, 7 November: 8.0 µg/m³, 1.1× usual Westerville, 8 November: 12.8 µg/m³, 1.8× usual Columbus Columbus, 2 November: 8.7 µg/m³, 1.0× usual Columbus, 3 November: 9.7 µg/m³, 1.2× usual Columbus, 4 November: 12.6 µg/m³, 1.5× usual Columbus, 5 November: 26.2 µg/m³, 3.1× usual Columbus, 6 November: 22.3 µg/m³, 2.7× usual Columbus, 7 November: 9.8 µg/m³, 1.2× usual Columbus, 8 November: 15.0 µg/m³, 1.8× usual Taylor Taylor, 2 November: 7.4 µg/m³, 1.3× usual Taylor, 3 November: 7.4 µg/m³, 1.3× usual Taylor, 4 November: 11.7 µg/m³, 2.1× usual Taylor, 5 November: 26.1 µg/m³, 4.6× usual Taylor, 6 November: 18.0 µg/m³, 3.2× usual Taylor, 7 November: 4.0 µg/m³, 0.7× usual Taylor, 8 November: 3.6 µg/m³, 0.6× usual Rockford Rockford, 2 November: 9.8 µg/m³, 1.4× usual Rockford, 3 November: 10.6 µg/m³, 1.5× usual Rockford, 4 November: 21.3 µg/m³, 3.0× usual Rockford, 5 November: 26.1 µg/m³, 3.7× usual Rockford, 6 November: 7.3 µg/m³, 1.0× usual Rockford, 7 November: 5.2 µg/m³, 0.7× usual Rockford, 8 November: 6.4 µg/m³, 0.9× usual East Chicago East Chicago, 2 November: 8.3 µg/m³, 1.2× usual East Chicago, 3 November: 8.1 µg/m³, 1.2× usual East Chicago, 4 November: 15.8 µg/m³, 2.3× usual East Chicago, 5 November: 25.6 µg/m³, 3.8× usual East Chicago, 6 November: 11.1 µg/m³, 1.6× usual East Chicago, 7 November: 5.7 µg/m³, 0.8× usual East Chicago, 8 November: 10.7 µg/m³, 1.6× usual Cleveland Cleveland, 2 November: 8.8 µg/m³, 1.3× usual Cleveland, 3 November: 8.8 µg/m³, 1.3× usual Cleveland, 4 November: 13.9 µg/m³, 2.1× usual Cleveland, 5 November: 25.4 µg/m³, 3.8× usual Cleveland, 6 November: 19.1 µg/m³, 2.9× usual Cleveland, 7 November: 7.1 µg/m³, 1.1× usual Cleveland, 8 November: 4.9 µg/m³, 0.7× usual Naperville Naperville, 2 November: 8.9 µg/m³, 1.4× usual Naperville, 3 November: 10.7 µg/m³, 1.7× usual Naperville, 4 November: 20.5 µg/m³, 3.3× usual Naperville, 5 November: 25.0 µg/m³, 4.0× usual Naperville, 6 November: 9.2 µg/m³, 1.5× usual Naperville, 7 November: 7.0 µg/m³, 1.1× usual Naperville, 8 November: 8.2 µg/m³, 1.3× usual 2 Nov 3 4 5 6 7 8 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
Dublin Ohio, United States 1 5 November 8.4 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× Detroit Michigan, United States 1 5 November 7.3 4.2× Naperville Illinois, United States 1 5 November 6.2 4.0× Canton Ohio, United States 1 5 November 6.9 4.0× Cleveland Ohio, United States 1 5 November 6.6 3.8× East Chicago Indiana, United States 1 5 November 6.8 3.8× Rockford Illinois, United States 1 5 November 7.0 3.7× Westerville Ohio, United States 1 5 November 7.2 3.7× Louisville Kentucky, United States 1 5 November 7.8 3.6× Windsor Ontario, Canada 1 5 November 8.1 3.6× Indianapolis Indiana, United States 1 5 November 8.5 3.2× Columbus Ohio, United States 1 5 November 8.4 3.1×
Daily means in µg/m³. Usual: the city's median for this time of year (its days within 21 days of the date, every year, leaving out the week around it). Above usual: its highest day against that.
Against other episodes in the United States and Canada
Number 51 of 106 episodes in the United States and Canada since our records began, by cities reached.
North-eastern United States and Canada, June and July 2023 279 North-eastern United States and Canada, July 2026 264 North-eastern United States and Canada, May and June 2023 260 North-eastern United States and Canada, July and August 2025 241 North-eastern United States and Canada, July 2023 241 North-eastern United States and Canada, June 2025 196 North-eastern United States and Canada, June 2023 161 North-eastern United States and Canada, July 2025 119 North-western United States and Canada, August 2023 110 North-eastern United States, June 2025 104 North-western United States and Canada, August 2026 99 North-eastern United States and Canada, February 2026 96 North-eastern United States, November 2023 16 Bars: cities reached; colour: the level of the episode's highest daily reading. All 106 .
Use this page SmogRank, North-eastern United States, November 2023: 16 cities with PM2.5 at twice their usual or more, 5 November 2023, smogrank.com/episodes/2023-11-north-eastern-united-states (accessed 2 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.
