# Des Moines, IA Air Quality Index (AQI) Today > Source: https://breathecheck.com/air-quality/us/iowa/des-moines/ > Live AQI for Des Moines, IA with a plain verdict — go, short and unloaded, or don't go — plus the monitor behind it and our own hourly record. # Des Moines, IA Air Quality Index (AQI) Today Readings collected automatically every hour; text written and checked by BreatheCheck Editorial . How this page is made → Right now: Des Moines is at 53 , moderate . ## Is the air safe to breathe in Des Moines today? In Des Moines, BreatheCheck reads 53 as Go . The cutoffs: go below 101 , keep it short and easy from 101 to 150 , move it indoors above 150 . These are our own thresholds, drawn on the EPA bands — EPA itself classifies 101–150 as Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups and does not tell you how long to stay out. Go AQI 0–100 Normal outdoor plans. No change needed. Short & unloaded AQI 101–150 A 20-minute dog walk, not a 2.5-hour run. Keep it brief and easy. Don’t go AQI 151+ Move it indoors. Above 200 that becomes everyone, not just sensitive groups. Above 200 this stops being a personal call: everyone indoors. Duration and intensity are two separate dials | Under 20 min | 20–60 min | Over an hour | | Easy | Go | Go | Go | | Moderate | Go | Go | Go | | Hard | Go | Go | Go | Go Every combination lands the same way at this reading — a hard hour is no different from an easy twenty minutes. The two dials separate above 80 . Where people actually draw the line **All the thresholds people reported, and who reported them** - 60 Asthmatic runner one runner’s own 156-run log - 75–100 Daycare / school parents and staff in one r/toddlers thread, Aug 2025 — not a published rule - 100 Parent community-reported, escalating at 150 and 200 - 110 Runner community-reported EPA classifies 101–150 as Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups. That is an attributed classification, not a verdict on your lungs specifically. If you’re staying in, filter the room you’re actually in A portable HEPA unit or a Corsi-Rosenthal box — one builder put theirs at about $130 for a 12×14 bedroom. We don’t default to a MERV-13 swap in whole-house HVAC: it can restrict airflow, and the safe version needs a static-pressure check first. Dominant pollutant PM2.5 UV index 1.4 low · modelled UV hour by hour in Des Moines → Days above AQI 100 0 of 30 days we have recorded The record, day by day → ### Ammonia turns into particles in the cold Ammonia is the compound that shapes the chemistry here, and it does not stay ammonia. It comes off fertilizer application and off Iowa’s livestock operations, and in the atmosphere it reacts with nitric acid to form ammonium nitrate, a secondary fine particle that assembles more readily in cold air than in warm. That is part of why a still, cold day here can post a number nothing visible accounts for. There is no plume to point at, no smell that lines up with the reading, and the material may have come off a hundred miles of farmland rather than out of a stack. The metro spreads from the confluence of the Des Moines and Raccoon Rivers across ground with no basin wall, no bluff line and no valley narrow enough to cap. Ordinary days ventilate quickly, and the same openness means whatever the regional flow is carrying arrives undiluted, which is how Canadian wildfire smoke has driven statewide Iowa advisories in recent summers. Closer in, the farm calendar shows up as dust. Spring tillage and fall harvest lift coarse particles off bare fields, short and sharp and local, noticed as grit and as a smell within the hour rather than as anything that lasts a day. ## Where this number sits Of the 121 US metros reporting to us right now, Des Moines is number 16 and the highest of the 2 we track in Iowa. The pollutant driving it today is PM2.5 . Nearby metros we also measure, and what they read at the same hour: - Cedar Rapids, IA — 105 miles away, AQI 19 - Omaha, NE — 123 miles away, AQI 36 - Lincoln, NE — 168 miles away, AQI 42 - Rochester, MN — 177 miles away, AQI 24 Why a metro a short drive away reads differently → Where this reading comes from AirNow’s Des Moines reporting area, about 5.2 miles from the metro centre. ## What has air quality in Des Moines actually been? Daily maximum, our own readings. 30 days since 2026-08-16; nothing back-filled. Why we keep our own → 0 of the 30 days we have recorded so far went above AQI 100. | Date | Daily max AQI | EPA band | Hours read | | 2026-09-14 | 53 | Moderate | 22 | | 2026-09-13 | 38 | Good | 23 | | 2026-09-12 | 46 | Good | 23 | | 2026-09-11 | 51 | Moderate | 23 | | 2026-09-10 | 55 | Moderate | 23 | | 2026-09-09 | 63 | Moderate | 23 | | 2026-09-08 | 73 | Moderate | 23 | | 2026-09-07 | 64 | Moderate | 23 | | 2026-09-06 | 58 | Moderate | 23 | | 2026-09-05 | 69 | Moderate | 23 | | 2026-09-04 | 61 | Moderate | 23 | | 2026-09-03 | 95 | Moderate | 24 | | 2026-09-02 | 74 | Moderate | 23 | | 2026-09-01 | 77 | Moderate | 23 | | 2026-08-31 | 97 | Moderate | 23 | | 2026-08-30 | 63 | Moderate | 23 | | 2026-08-29 | 64 | Moderate | 23 | | 2026-08-28 | 85 | Moderate | 22 | | 2026-08-27 | 67 | Moderate | 23 | | 2026-08-26 | 65 | Moderate | 23 | | 2026-08-25 | 70 | Moderate | 23 | | 2026-08-24 | 68 | Moderate | 24 | | 2026-08-23 | 74 | Moderate | 23 | | 2026-08-22 | 58 | Moderate | 23 | | 2026-08-21 | 66 | Moderate | 23 | | 2026-08-20 | 63 | Moderate | 24 | | 2026-08-19 | 58 | Moderate | 23 | | 2026-08-18 | 62 | Moderate | 23 | | 2026-08-17 | 63 | Moderate | 26 | | 2026-08-16 | 52 | Moderate | 7 — partial day | ## Questions about Des Moines **What is the air quality in Des Moines right now?** AQI 53 — Moderate. That is number 16 of the 121 US metros reporting to us at this hour. **Which monitor does this number come from?** Des Moines, about 5.2 miles from the metro centre. One instrument reports for the whole metro, so the side farthest from it is the least well described. **How does Des Moines compare with metros nearby?** At this hour: Cedar Rapids 19, Omaha 36, Lincoln 42, Rochester 24. A gap that size over that distance usually means different terrain, traffic or wind rather than a broken sensor. **Does this include pollen?** No. The AQI covers PM2.5 , PM10 , ozone, NO₂, SO₂ and CO. A high-pollen day can read clean here and still put someone in bed. What the number means, band by band → · UV in Des Moines → · Why apps disagree → ## Put this number in context On this page Alert me when Des Moines turns One email when it crosses your threshold. Updated 14 Sep 2026, 22:12 UTC