Air quality
Air quality in Frederick today
Updated
Moderate (US AQI 65) Acceptable for most people. Unusually sensitive people should consider shortening long or heavy exertion outdoors. Model estimate for Sun, Oct 25, 6:40 pm (22:40 UTC).
Live AQI, PM2.5, PM10 and ozone for Frederick, Maryland, United States, with a 48-hour forecast and the best time to be outside.
- US AQI now
- 65 Moderate
- PM2.5
- 13 µg/m³ 0.9× WHO 24-h guideline
- PM10
- 16 µg/m³
- Ozone
- 86 µg/m³
Air quality in Frederick right now
Right now the modelled US Air Quality Index for Frederick, Maryland, United States is 65, which falls in the "Moderate" band (up to 100). Acceptable for most people. Unusually sensitive people should consider shortening long or heavy exertion outdoors.
PM2.5 is 13 µg/m³, within the WHO 24-hour guideline of 15 µg/m³; PM10 is 16 µg/m³ against a guideline of 45; ozone is 86 µg/m³ (below the WHO 8-hour level of 100); nitrogen dioxide is 7.1 µg/m³ (below the 24-hour guideline of 25).
NASA FIRMS shows 71 fire hotspots within 300 km in the last day (nearest about 20 km), but particle levels are not elevated enough to point to smoke right now.
Frederick vs the rest of United States
Across 619 United States cities we track, the average US AQI right now is 51 (Moderate). Frederick at 65 is 14 points worse than average.
It ranks 519 of 619 from cleanest to most polluted; the cleanest is Hilo (18) and the most polluted Springfield, PA (131).
For context, the median across 3,556 cities worldwide is 58.
Air quality in cities near Frederick
| City | Distance | US AQI | Category | PM2.5 µg/m³ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Potomac | 47 km | 68 | Moderate | 19.6 |
| Columbia, MD | 53 km | 68 | Moderate | 21.9 |
| Arlington, VA | 65 km | 66 | Moderate | 23.6 |
| Washington | 66 km | 66 | Moderate | 23.6 |
Model vs measured
The nearest measured PM2.5 reading is 6.6 µg/m³ from Sensor.Community (median of 3 sensors), centred about 6 km from the city centre. That is 6.6 µg/m³ below the model estimate of 13 µg/m³. Low-cost sensors can read high in humid air; reference monitors are more accurate but sparser.
Advice for sensitive groups
At 65, most people are fine outdoors. If you are unusually sensitive to air pollution, keep long or intense workouts to the cleaner hours shown above.
What the US AQI numbers mean
| US AQI | Category | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| 0-50 | Good | Air quality is satisfactory and poses little or no risk; a good time for outdoor activity. |
| 51-100 | Moderate | Acceptable for most people. Unusually sensitive people should consider shortening long or heavy exertion outdoors. |
| 101-150 | Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups | People with heart or lung disease, older adults, children and teens should cut back on prolonged or heavy exertion outdoors. |
| 151-200 | Unhealthy | Everyone should reduce prolonged or heavy exertion outdoors; sensitive groups should avoid it and keep windows closed. |
| 201-300 | Very Unhealthy | Health alert: everyone should avoid prolonged or heavy exertion outdoors, and sensitive groups should stay indoors. |
| 301-500 | Hazardous | Emergency 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 Frederick
Air quality elsewhere
Data: Open-Meteo Air Quality API, Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS), Sensor.Community, NASA FIRMS.