Air quality
Air quality in Kathmandu today
Updated
Moderate (US AQI 86) Acceptable for most people. Unusually sensitive people should consider shortening long or heavy exertion outdoors. Model estimate for Mon, Oct 26, 7:45 am (02:00 UTC).
Live AQI, PM2.5, PM10 and ozone for Kathmandu, Bagmati Province, Nepal, with a 48-hour forecast and the best time to be outside.
- US AQI now
- 86 Moderate
- PM2.5
- 38 µg/m³ 2.6× WHO 24-h guideline
- PM10
- 42 µg/m³
- Ozone
- 105 µg/m³
- Dominant pollutant
- PM2.5 sub-index 86
- Best hour today
- 12:45 pm AQI 84
- European AQI
- 53
Air quality in Kathmandu right now
Right now the modelled US Air Quality Index for Kathmandu, Bagmati Province, Nepal is 86, which falls in the "Moderate" band (up to 100). Acceptable for most people. Unusually sensitive people should consider shortening long or heavy exertion outdoors.
The index is driven mainly by PM2.5, whose own sub-index is 86. Fine and coarse particles come from traffic, heating, industry, dust and smoke; they build up on calm nights and clear when wind or rain arrives.
PM2.5 is 38 µg/m³, 2.6 times the WHO 24-hour guideline of 15 µg/m³; PM10 is 42 µg/m³ against a guideline of 45; ozone is 105 µg/m³ (above the WHO 8-hour level of 100); nitrogen dioxide is 9.4 µg/m³ (below the 24-hour guideline of 25).
Also this hour: UV index 1.1, carbon monoxide 729 µg/m³.
Kathmandu AQI forecast: next 48 hours
Over the next 24 hours the AQI is forecast to range from 84 around Mon 12:45 pm to 107 around Mon 4:45 pm, from "Moderate" at best to "Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups" at worst.
The following day is expected to be worse, averaging about 102 against 90 for the next 24 hours.
| Local time (Asia/Kathmandu) | US AQI | Category | PM2.5 µg/m³ | PM10 µg/m³ | Ozone µg/m³ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mon 7:45 am | 86 | Moderate | 38.3 | 42 | 105 |
| Mon 10:45 am | 85 | Moderate | 10.9 | 13 | 143 |
| Mon 1:45 pm | 84 | Moderate | 10.1 | 11 | 151 |
| Mon 4:45 pm | 107 | Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups | 13.9 | 15 | 118 |
| Mon 7:45 pm | 89 | Moderate | 37 | 39 | 86 |
| Mon 10:45 pm | 86 | Moderate | 55.6 | 58 | 72 |
| Tue 1:45 am | 89 | Moderate | 55.2 | 57 | 66 |
| Tue 4:45 am | 93 | Moderate | 49.8 | 52 | 48 |
| Tue 7:45 am | 96 | Moderate | 46.6 | 49 | 92 |
| Tue 10:45 am | 98 | Moderate | 14.8 | 17 | 145 |
| Tue 1:45 pm | 99 | Moderate | 12.8 | 16 | 158 |
| Tue 4:45 pm | 112 | Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups | 18.1 | 20 | 122 |
| Tue 7:45 pm | 101 | Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups | 40.6 | 43 | 90 |
| Tue 10:45 pm | 102 | Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups | 59.5 | 63 | 71 |
| Wed 1:45 am | 103 | Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups | 53.7 | 57 | 63 |
| Wed 4:45 am | 101 | Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups | 39.3 | 42 | 53 |
| Wed 7:45 am | 98 | Moderate | 25 | 27 | 76 |
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 Kathmandu today
Between 6 am and 9 pm local time, the cleanest air today is forecast around 12:45 pm (AQI 84, Moderate) and the worst around 4:45 pm (AQI 107). That is a swing of 23 points, so a run or walk around 12:45 pm is noticeably better.
Kathmandu vs the rest of Nepal
Across 4 Nepal cities we track, the average US AQI right now is 83 (Moderate). Kathmandu at 86 is about average.
It ranks 2 of 4 from cleanest to most polluted; the cleanest is Pokhara (58) and the most polluted Bharatpur (95).
For context, the median across 3,556 cities worldwide is 58.
Air quality in cities near Kathmandu
| City | Distance | US AQI | Category | PM2.5 µg/m³ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pātan | 3 km | 90 | Moderate | 49.4 |
| Bharatpur | 87 km | 95 | Moderate | 32.8 |
| Dhāka, Bihar | 115 km | 178 | Unhealthy | 156 |
| Pokhara | 147 km | 58 | Moderate | 11.5 |
| Muzaffarpur | 176 km | 162 | Unhealthy | 113.9 |
| Darbhanga | 182 km | 155 | Unhealthy | 100.8 |
| Gorakhpur | 219 km | 172 | Unhealthy | 122.9 |
| Patna | 235 km | 158 | Unhealthy | 101.7 |
Model vs measured
The nearest measured PM2.5 reading is 15 µg/m³ from Sensor.Community (median of 3 sensors), centred about 4 km from the city centre. That is 23 µg/m³ below the model estimate of 38 µg/m³. Low-cost sensors can read high in humid air; reference monitors are more accurate but sparser.
Wildfire smoke
PM2.5 is forecast to reach 56 µg/m³ in the next 24 hours while NASA satellites detected 36 fire hotspots within 300 km in the last day (nearest about 86 km away). Smoke is a likely contributor: keep windows closed, run an air purifier or HVAC filter, and check the fire map before heading out.
Advice for sensitive groups
At 86, most people are fine outdoors. If you are unusually sensitive to PM2.5, 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 Kathmandu
Air quality elsewhere
Data: Open-Meteo Air Quality API, Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS), Sensor.Community, NASA FIRMS.