SmokeDarMadison wildfire smoke and air quality
Live readings for Madison, Wisconsin: whether wildfire smoke is overhead, what the surface air measures, and how the next five days look. Free, no signup, no ads.
How smoke reaches Madison
Madison sees Canadian smoke a few hours after it crosses the Minnesota line, without a big lake to modify it. Plumes here tend to arrive aloft first, turning the sun hazy over the isthmus a day or more before surface PM2.5 climbs, if it climbs at all. That is why SmokeDar reports two numbers for Madison: smoke aloft (modeled aerosol optical depth from Copernicus CAMS) and surface air (PM2.5 and US AQI, observed AirNow monitor data when a monitor is nearby). They are different things, and they often disagree.
What the numbers mean
AQI 0–50 is good and 51–100 is moderate; ordinary days. From 101–150, sensitive groups (kids, older adults, pregnant people, anyone with heart or lung conditions) should shorten hard outdoor exercise. Above 150, everyone should cut both time and intensity outdoors. The full playbook is in the Smoke Guide.