If you stepped outside last summer and thought, “Hmm, smells like a campfire,” you weren’t wrong—you just weren’t anywhere near a campground. From June through August, a series of apocalyptic skies drifted down from Canadian wildfires, blanketing the Hudson Valley in a haze of fine particulate matter and existential dread. Air quality alerts pinged phones like tornado warnings, only to vanish hours later with little explanation. And while New York City had the air-quality index sensors to track the threat, much of the Hudson Valley was flying blind, making public health decisions based on data from cities two hours away.
That changes now.
Bard College’s Center for Environmental Sciences and Humanities has teamed up with environmental justice startup JustAir to launch a new real-time air quality monitoring platform for the Hudson Valley. The Hudson Valley Community Air Network x JustAir platform delivers hyperlocal, validated data from four new regional stations—in Kingston, Poughkeepsie, Red Hook, and Newburgh—making it easier than ever to track what you’re breathing. The platform builds on prior projects including the Kingston Air Quality Initiative (KAQI), which released a four-year air quality study report with the city of Kingston last year.
“Clean air is a precious resource that needs to be protected in the same way we protect our beautiful waterways,” says Eli Dueker, director of the Bard Environmental Center. “This seamless public access to real-time outdoor air quality comes after years of collaboration between Bard and local leaders.”
The platform lets users “favorite” monitors close to home, sending phone alerts when pollution levels rise. It even offers suggestions on what you can do to help: skip the wood stove, leave the car in the driveway, save the chainsawing for a better day.
While the project’s digital dashboard is new, the air sensors have been running quietly across the region as part of Bard’s Hudson Valley Community Air Network (HVCAN)—a scrappy web of 45 street-level monitors from Albany to Newburgh that’s about to get a tech upgrade.
Darren Riley, cofounder of JustAir, calls the platform a long-overdue tool for community science. “We expect this data will further encourage community science and provide a basis for actions to improve residents’ health,” he says.
The initiative also represents a rare instance of public agencies, nonprofits, and academia rowing in the same direction. The City of Kingston and Ulster County have already signed on to sponsor more local sensors. “This new platform empowers residents to make informed decisions about their daily activities,” says Ulster County Executive Jen Metzger. “Expanding air-quality monitoring across the region is a crucial step toward ensuring cleaner air and a healthier future for all.”
For now, air-quality nerds and asthmatic joggers alike can rejoice. And if you’re still trying to forget the orange skies of 2023, well, here’s a way to see the next one coming.
Launch events for the platform will be held June 24–26 in Poughkeepsie, Newburgh, and Kingston.
This article appears in June 2025.
The River is an independent news outlet that produces in-depth, quality journalism and analysis about the Hudson Valley and Catskills regions. Learn more about our mission and ethics.
