PM_2.5 is positively related to anticyclonic wave activity (AWA) changes close to the observing sites. Changes between current and future climates in AWA can explain up to 75 % of PM_2.5 variability at some stations using a linear regression model. Our analysis indicates that higher PM_2.5 concentrations occur when a positive AWA anomaly is prominent, which could be critical for understanding how pollutants respond to changing atmospheric circulation and for developing robust pollution projections.