Air quality
Air quality in Lyon today
Updated
Good (US AQI 24) Air quality is satisfactory and poses little or no risk; a good time for outdoor activity. Model estimate for Sun, Oct 25, 7:00 pm (18:00 UTC).
Live AQI, PM2.5, PM10 and ozone for Lyon, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France, with a 48-hour forecast and the best time to be outside.
- US AQI now
- 24 Good
- PM2.5
- 8.2 µg/m³ 0.5× WHO 24-h guideline
- PM10
- 11 µg/m³
- Ozone
- 31 µg/m³
- Dominant pollutant
- PM2.5 sub-index 24
- Best hour tomorrow
- 6:00 am AQI 36
- European AQI
- 42
Air quality in Lyon right now
Right now the modelled US Air Quality Index for Lyon, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France is 24, 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 PM2.5, whose own sub-index is 24. 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 8.2 µg/m³, within the WHO 24-hour guideline of 15 µg/m³; PM10 is 11 µg/m³ against a guideline of 45; ozone is 31 µg/m³ (below the WHO 8-hour level of 100); nitrogen dioxide is 28 µg/m³ (above the 24-hour guideline of 25).
Also this hour: carbon monoxide 224 µg/m³.
NASA FIRMS shows 7 fire hotspots within 300 km in the last day (nearest about 256 km), but particle levels are not elevated enough to point to smoke right now.
Lyon AQI forecast: next 48 hours
Over the next 24 hours the AQI is forecast to range from 24 around Sun 7:00 pm to 51 around Mon 6:00 pm, from "Good" at best to "Moderate" at worst.
The following day is expected to be worse, averaging about 56 against 37 for the next 24 hours.
| Local time (Europe/Paris) | US AQI | Category | PM2.5 µg/m³ | PM10 µg/m³ | Ozone µg/m³ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sun 7:00 pm | 24 | Good | 8.2 | 11 | 31 |
| Sun 10:00 pm | 26 | Good | 9.7 | 15 | 26 |
| Mon 1:00 am | 30 | Good | 9.4 | 13 | 26 |
| Mon 4:00 am | 33 | Good | 8.9 | 14 | 18 |
| Mon 7:00 am | 37 | Good | 8.6 | 19 | 22 |
| Mon 10:00 am | 41 | Good | 12.8 | 25 | 17 |
| Mon 1:00 pm | 47 | Good | 9.3 | 19 | 50 |
| Mon 4:00 pm | 50 | Good | 7.5 | 18 | 58 |
| Mon 7:00 pm | 51 | Moderate | 15 | 27 | 16 |
| Mon 10:00 pm | 53 | Moderate | 17.1 | 27 | 6 |
| Tue 1:00 am | 54 | Moderate | 16.3 | 27 | 8 |
| Tue 4:00 am | 56 | Moderate | 15.9 | 24 | 4 |
| Tue 7:00 am | 58 | Moderate | 13 | 20 | 19 |
| Tue 10:00 am | 58 | Moderate | 6.8 | 11 | 47 |
| Tue 1:00 pm | 56 | Moderate | 4.8 | 8 | 60 |
| Tue 4:00 pm | 56 | Moderate | 4.8 | 9 | 65 |
| Tue 7:00 pm | 55 | Moderate | 11.3 | 16 | 38 |
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 Lyon tomorrow
Between 6 am and 9 pm local time, the cleanest air tomorrow is forecast around 6:00 am (AQI 36, Good) and the worst around 8:00 pm (AQI 52). That is a swing of 16 points, so a run or walk around 6:00 am is noticeably better.
Lyon vs the rest of France
Across 23 France cities we track, the average US AQI right now is 32 (Good). Lyon at 24 is 8 points cleaner than average.
It ranks 1 of 23 from cleanest to most polluted; the cleanest is Lyon (24) and the most polluted Dieppe (36).
For context, the median across 3,909 cities worldwide is 57.
Air quality in cities near Lyon
| City | Distance | US AQI | Category | PM2.5 µg/m³ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mâcon, Bourgogne-Franche-Comté | 63 km | 27 | Good | 6.2 |
| Orange, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur | 179 km | 34 | Good | 6.2 |
| Turin | 234 km | 62 | Moderate | 18.3 |
| Marseille | 276 km | 34 | Good | 2.9 |
| Nice | 297 km | 31 | Good | 4.3 |
| Orléans, Centre-Val de Loire | 328 km | 34 | Good | 5.3 |
| Zürich | 335 km | 29 | Good | 2.3 |
| Milan | 339 km | 65 | Moderate | 20.5 |
Model vs measured
The nearest measured PM2.5 reading is 2.3 µg/m³ from Sensor.Community (median of 8 sensors), centred about 10 km from the city centre. That is 5.9 µg/m³ below the model estimate of 8.2 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 24, 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 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 Lyon
Air quality elsewhere
Data: Open-Meteo Air Quality API, Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS), Sensor.Community, NASA FIRMS.