By Jeremy Tanz
PERRYVILLE — March 1st began the 2026 ozone season and attached are the readings for the month of March.
At our local monitors in western Ste. Genevieve and eastern Perry Counties, we are beginning the season with good to moderate air quality.
The current high readings are 63 ppb on the Bonne Terre monitor and 62 ppb on the Farrar monitor.
A local comparison to last year is showing a little more fluctuation between low and high readings for March with five days in the moderate air quality range.
Statewide there have already been six exceedances of the 70 ppb NAAQS standard set by EPA.
Four of these were in the Kansas City area, one in the Springfield area, and one at the Mark Twain State Park monitor in Monroe County.
Last year had no exceedances recorded in the month of March.
Here is the March 2026 Ozone Data report:
Jeremy Tanz is the executive director of the Southeast Missouri Regional Planning and Economic Development Commission