SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Generally speaking, you won't be finding a lot of fresh "good" quality air around Northern California.
The National Weather Service said most of Northern California has unhealthy air quality.
AirNow.Gov has multiple reporting areas monitoring air quality in California, but, with a couple of exceptions, you can generally rule out most of the Sacramento reporting area.
Air quality in reporting areas for the San Francisco Bay Area, the Monterey Bay Area, and the San Joaquin Valley Area have almost no reprieves from unhealthy air conditions.
If you’re looking for the largest swathes of fresh air that isn't out of state, you’ll be hard-pressed to find it north of Sacramento.
Using the AirNow interactive air quality map, ABC10 looked for some of the closest areas with air quality in the moderate and good air quality categories as of Monday evening.
On the US Air Quality Index, "good" quality air typically sits at a value between 0-50 and "moderate" sits between 51 to 100.
Your best bet for moderate air quality in the state is in Southern California, specifically in parts of Inyo County, San Bernardino County, Riverside County, Imperial County, and a handful of areas in San Diego County. While not abundant, moderate air quality is a bit more widespread in the lower part of the state to the east.
The closest parts are in Riverside County and San Bernardino County, which are about 440 miles away according to Google maps. That’s followed closely by Inyo County. San Diego County and Imperial County have some moderate air quality locations as well, but you will likely spend more than seven hours on the road.
According to AirNow.gov, you'd be able to find fresh air by crossing the border into Nevada. Elko, Nevada had good air quality on Monday, although it dipped into the moderate zone as the night went on. Elko is a roughly 460-mile drive.
For more air quality ratings in California, click HERE or view the map below.
