Air quality

Air quality in City of Westminster today

Updated

Good (US AQI 32) Air quality is satisfactory and poses little or no risk; a good time for outdoor activity. Model estimate for Sun, Oct 25, 8:00 pm (20:00 UTC).

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

US AQI now
32 Good
PM2.5
4.6 µg/m³ 0.3× WHO 24-h guideline
PM10
9.9 µg/m³
Ozone
63 µg/m³
Dominant pollutant
ozone sub-index 32
Best hour tomorrow
8:00 pm AQI 25
European AQI
26

Open on the live map

Air quality in City of Westminster right now

Right now the modelled US Air Quality Index for City of Westminster, England, United Kingdom is 32, 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 32. Ozone usually peaks in the afternoon on sunny days and falls back after sunset.

PM2.5 is 4.6 µg/m³, within the WHO 24-hour guideline of 15 µg/m³; PM10 is 9.9 µg/m³ against a guideline of 45; ozone is 63 µg/m³ (below the WHO 8-hour level of 100); nitrogen dioxide is 15 µg/m³ (below the 24-hour guideline of 25).

Also this hour: carbon monoxide 173 µg/m³.

NASA FIRMS shows 40 fire hotspots within 300 km in the last day (nearest about 113 km), but particle levels are not elevated enough to point to smoke right now.

City of Westminster AQI forecast: next 48 hours

Over the next 24 hours the AQI is forecast to range from 25 around Mon 8:00 pm to 32 around Sun 8:00 pm, staying "Good" throughout.

The following day looks similar, averaging about 26.

Local time (Europe/London)US AQICategoryPM2.5 µg/m³PM10 µg/m³Ozone µg/m³
Sun 8:00 pm32Good4.61063
Sun 11:00 pm30Good4.71362
Mon 2:00 am29Good4.21664
Mon 5:00 am29Good4.41759
Mon 8:00 am27Good5.51350
Mon 11:00 am26Good3.1666
Mon 2:00 pm26Good3.4555
Mon 5:00 pm27Good61251
Mon 8:00 pm25Good4.7849
Mon 11:00 pm24Good4855
Tue 2:00 am24Good3.1754
Tue 5:00 am25Good3658
Tue 8:00 am26Good2.6656
Tue 11:00 am26Good3.8858
Tue 2:00 pm27Good3.4864
Tue 5:00 pm28Good41058
Tue 8:00 pm28Good4.81249

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 City of Westminster tomorrow

Between 6 am and 9 pm local time, the cleanest air tomorrow is forecast around 8:00 pm (AQI 25, Good) and the worst around 6:00 am (AQI 29). The difference across the day is small, so timing matters little.

City of Westminster vs the rest of United Kingdom

Across 134 United Kingdom cities we track, the average US AQI right now is 34 (Good). City of Westminster at 32 is about average.

It ranks 3 of 134 from cleanest to most polluted; the cleanest is London (32) and the most polluted Newquay (38).

For context, the median across 3,909 cities worldwide is 56.

Air quality in cities near City of Westminster

CityDistanceUS AQICategoryPM2.5 µg/m³
London1 km32Good4.7
Islington5 km32Good4.7
Richmond, England12 km32Good4.7
Tottenham13 km32Good4.7
Croydon13 km32Good4.7
Walthamstow13 km32Good4.7
Edmonton, England15 km33Good4.4
Barking16 km32Good4.7

Model vs measured

The nearest measured PM2.5 reading is 3.6 µg/m³ from Sensor.Community (median of 27 sensors), centred about 13 km from the city centre. That is close to the model estimate of 4.6 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 32, 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 City of Westminster

Air quality elsewhere

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