How to protect yourself from bad air quality

Bad air can travel thousands of miles — and it even goes past your front door. So when the air quality index isn’t looking so good, what can you do?

Air quality is just a measure of how much stuff is in the air around you — pollutants, pollen, smoke, dust, anything you can breathe in. And the more of it there is, the harder your body has to work to pull in the oxygen it needs.

What does the weather have to do with it?

 Weather moves smoke, dust and pollution across the country and right into your home. 

“You can actually get bad air quality from stuff thousands of miles away,” said weather.com digital meteorologist Sara Tonks.

Heat is one of the biggest drivers. Heat domes can trap poor air near the surface and hold it in place, making bad air quality linger for days. 

That same heat can fuel wildfires, and once smoke is in the air, strong winds high in the atmosphere carry it far downwind. 

Canadian wildfire smoke, for example, has pushed into the Northeast and Great Lakes even though those areas weren't burning.

(MORE: Canada wildfires in 2025 burn more than yearly average)

Tropical waves and ridges can carry dust from the Sahara Desert clear across the Atlantic and into the United States. 

Seasonal changes

Every season brings its own challenges, according to Tonks.

• Winter has stagnant air, which lets pollutants build up, pushing the air quality index higher — and a higher AQI means less healthy air. 
• Spring brings pollen and, with the season's rains, more mold.
• Summer heat domes trap air much like winter's stagnant pattern, while extra sunshine drives chemical reactions that create even more pollutants. 
• Fall is often cleaner, but leaf burning sends particles right back into the air.

(MORE: Breathe easier this winter by improving indoor air quality and reducing asthma concerns)

It's an indoor problem, too

“Air quality, it may seem like an outside issue, but it is very much so an inside issue as well,” Tonks said.

Not only is there the possibility for outside air with things like wildfire smoke and large-scale pollutants to get into your house, but you're also constantly adding your own.

Burn a candle and smell it? That's putting particles into the air. Like long, hot showers? They add moisture, which is part of why mold becomes a problem in the summer.

How to protect yourself

The single most important thing you can do is simply know when the air is bad.

If you're not keeping an eye on the weather or set up to get alerts, you won't know to act — and you can't protect yourself from something you don't see coming.

(MORE: What does the air quality index actually mean?)

Once you know, head indoors and keep your windows shut.

A few steps make your home a cleaner place to wait it out:

• Run a portable air purifier. 
• Make sure your filtration systems are up to standard, both in your home and in your car.
• Don't add to the problem. Skip the candles, the gas, propane and wood-burning stoves, and even hairspray and spray cleaners. And when the air outside is bad, you can't fix the air inside just by opening up windows.

If you do have to go out, wear a mask. Cloth and dust masks don't filter fine particles well, but a properly fitted N95 or KN95 offers real protection for your lungs.

(MORE: N95 masks and air purifiers: Wildfire smoke protection)

"And if there's good air quality outside, open your windows, get some fresh air in your house, let everything that's been building up inside out,” Tonks said. “That way, your house can be a safe haven from any pollutants that might come up outside."

Content writer Ada Wood enjoys exploring the stories that science and climate teach us about our natural world and how it influences the way we live in it.