Air quality

Air quality in Bournemouth today

Updated

Good (US AQI 35) Air quality is satisfactory and poses little or no risk; a good time for outdoor activity. Model estimate for Sun, Oct 25, 6:00 pm (18:00 UTC).

Live AQI, PM2.5, PM10 and ozone for Bournemouth, England, United Kingdom, with a 48-hour forecast and the best time to be outside.

US AQI now
35 Good
PM2.5
3.9 µg/m³ 0.3× WHO 24-h guideline
PM10
13 µg/m³
Ozone
75 µg/m³
Dominant pollutant
ozone sub-index 35
Best hour today
6:00 pm AQI 35
European AQI
28

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Air quality in Bournemouth right now

Right now the modelled US Air Quality Index for Bournemouth, England, United Kingdom is 35, which falls in the "Good" band (up to 50). Air quality is satisfactory and poses little or no risk; a good time for outdoor activity.

The index is driven mainly by ozone, whose own sub-index is 35. Ozone usually peaks in the afternoon on sunny days and falls back after sunset.

PM2.5 is 3.9 µg/m³, within the WHO 24-hour guideline of 15 µg/m³; PM10 is 13 µg/m³ against a guideline of 45; ozone is 75 µg/m³ (below the WHO 8-hour level of 100); nitrogen dioxide is 2.3 µg/m³ (below the 24-hour guideline of 25).

Also this hour: carbon monoxide 148 µg/m³.

NASA FIRMS shows 19 fire hotspots within 300 km in the last day (nearest about 38 km), but particle levels are not elevated enough to point to smoke right now.

Bournemouth AQI forecast: next 48 hours

Over the next 24 hours the AQI is forecast to range from 28 around Mon 6:00 pm to 35 around Sun 6:00 pm, staying "Good" throughout.

The following day is expected to be cleaner, averaging about 29 against 34 for the next 24 hours.

Local time (Europe/London)US AQICategoryPM2.5 µg/m³PM10 µg/m³Ozone µg/m³
Sun 6:00 pm35Good3.91375
Sun 9:00 pm35Good3.81575
Mon 12:00 am35Good3.41573
Mon 3:00 am34Good3.41673
Mon 6:00 am34Good2.81381
Mon 9:00 am35Good2.7772
Mon 12:00 pm34Good3760
Mon 3:00 pm31Good5.62059
Mon 6:00 pm28Good4.31859
Mon 9:00 pm27Good3.91460
Tue 12:00 am27Good31458
Tue 3:00 am27Good3.41561
Tue 6:00 am28Good3.11266
Tue 9:00 am29Good4.11766
Tue 12:00 pm30Good31168
Tue 3:00 pm31Good3.21171
Tue 6:00 pm32Good3.71265

Every third hour of the CAMS forecast via Open-Meteo. US AQI uses rolling averages (24 h for particles, 8 h for ozone), so it moves more slowly than the hourly concentrations.

Best time to be outside in Bournemouth today

Between 6 am and 9 pm local time, the cleanest air today is forecast around 6:00 pm (AQI 35, Good) and the worst around 6:00 pm (AQI 35). The difference across the day is small, so timing matters little.

Bournemouth vs the rest of United Kingdom

Across 134 United Kingdom cities we track, the average US AQI right now is 35 (Good). Bournemouth at 35 is about average.

It ranks 85 of 134 from cleanest to most polluted; the cleanest is London (33) and the most polluted Newquay (38).

For context, the median across 3,909 cities worldwide is 57.

Air quality in cities near Bournemouth

CityDistanceUS AQICategoryPM2.5 µg/m³
Christchurch, England7 km35Good3.9
Poole7 km35Good3.9
Southampton39 km35Good3.9
Newport, England41 km35Good3.7
Winchester55 km35Good3.9
Portsmouth56 km35Good3.7
Yeovil58 km35Good4.2
Basingstoke82 km34Good3.6

Model vs measured

The nearest measured PM2.5 reading is 3.5 µg/m³ from Sensor.Community (median of 5 sensors), centred about 24 km from the city centre. That is close to the model estimate of 3.9 µg/m³. Low-cost sensors can read high in humid air; reference monitors are more accurate but sparser.

Advice for sensitive groups

With the AQI at 35, there is no need for sensitive groups to change plans. People with asthma should still carry their reliever inhaler as usual.

What the US AQI numbers mean

US AQICategoryWhat it means
0-50GoodAir quality is satisfactory and poses little or no risk; a good time for outdoor activity.
51-100ModerateAcceptable for most people. Unusually sensitive people should consider shortening long or heavy exertion outdoors.
101-150Unhealthy for Sensitive GroupsPeople with heart or lung disease, older adults, children and teens should cut back on prolonged or heavy exertion outdoors.
151-200UnhealthyEveryone should reduce prolonged or heavy exertion outdoors; sensitive groups should avoid it and keep windows closed.
201-300Very UnhealthyHealth alert: everyone should avoid prolonged or heavy exertion outdoors, and sensitive groups should stay indoors.
301-500HazardousEmergency conditions: everyone should avoid all outdoor physical activity and stay indoors with filtered air if possible. The scale tops out at 500; heavier dust or smoke is shown as 500.

Values on this page are modelled by CAMS (Copernicus) and served by Open-Meteo; they are estimates for the area around the city centre, not readings from an official monitor.

Nearby cities

More for Bournemouth

Air quality elsewhere

Data: Open-Meteo Air Quality API, Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS), Sensor.Community, NASA FIRMS.