HONOLULU -- If you thought the air was bad on New Year's Eve night, you were right. The Department of Health Thursday released the printout of air quality readings.

There were more permits issued for fireworks this year than last, but health officials said it was the weather that seemed to affect the air quality more than the volume of fireworks.

A spike at midnight on a printout showed monitoring stations in Pearl City, Liliha and Honolulu were the worst, exceeding both federal and state air quality limits for the 24-hour period.

A storm had been predicted wind and rain to blow the smoke away, but it didn't arrive in time.

"Yeah, it would have made my job easier," DOH Clean Air Branch Chief Willfred Nagamine said, laughing. "Because we didn't have that, it stayed around a little longer and because of that, the numbers do get higher."

So, that means, one year you could have more fireworks, but less smoke.

"Because if you have good weather conditions like wind and rain, it will tend to disperse it better and deposit it clean out of the atmosphere," Nagamine said.

The worst area, as in years past, was Pearl City. The density of population combined with the ridge, which traps smoke, seems to always make that area the worst, officials said.