Air quality

Air quality in Oak Lawn today

Updated

Moderate (US AQI 57) Acceptable for most people. Unusually sensitive people should consider shortening long or heavy exertion outdoors. Model estimate for Sun, Oct 25, 8:00 pm (01:00 UTC).

Live AQI, PM2.5, PM10 and ozone for Oak Lawn, Illinois, United States, with a 48-hour forecast and the best time to be outside.

US AQI now
57 Moderate
PM2.5
17 µg/m³ 1.1× WHO 24-h guideline
PM10
17 µg/m³
Ozone
25 µg/m³
Dominant pollutant
PM2.5 sub-index 57
Best hour tomorrow
6:00 am AQI 59
European AQI
62

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Air quality in Oak Lawn right now

Right now the modelled US Air Quality Index for Oak Lawn, Illinois, United States is 57, 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 57. 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 17 µg/m³, 1.1 times the WHO 24-hour guideline of 15 µg/m³; PM10 is 17 µg/m³ against a guideline of 45; ozone is 25 µg/m³ (below the WHO 8-hour level of 100); nitrogen dioxide is 64 µg/m³ (above the 24-hour guideline of 25).

Also this hour: carbon monoxide 313 µg/m³.

NASA FIRMS shows 50 fire hotspots within 300 km in the last day (nearest about 23 km), but particle levels are not elevated enough to point to smoke right now.

Oak Lawn AQI forecast: next 48 hours

Over the next 24 hours the AQI is forecast to range from 57 around Sun 8:00 pm to 65 around Mon 5:00 pm, staying "Moderate" throughout.

The following day looks similar, averaging about 60.

Local time (America/Chicago)US AQICategoryPM2.5 µg/m³PM10 µg/m³Ozone µg/m³
Sun 8:00 pm57Moderate16.81725
Sun 11:00 pm59Moderate14.41526
Mon 2:00 am60Moderate11.61244
Mon 5:00 am60Moderate13.91427
Mon 8:00 am59Moderate26.82710
Mon 11:00 am61Moderate23.32330
Mon 2:00 pm63Moderate16.31663
Mon 5:00 pm65Moderate13.81470
Mon 8:00 pm65Moderate8.5955
Mon 11:00 pm62Moderate6.4743
Tue 2:00 am61Moderate9.3940
Tue 5:00 am60Moderate12.71329
Tue 8:00 am60Moderate212120
Tue 11:00 am59Moderate20.82134
Tue 2:00 pm58Moderate14.81555
Tue 5:00 pm58Moderate121255
Tue 8:00 pm58Moderate14.91526

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 Oak Lawn tomorrow

Between 6 am and 9 pm local time, the cleanest air tomorrow is forecast around 6:00 am (AQI 59, Moderate) and the worst around 5:00 pm (AQI 65). The difference across the day is small, so timing matters little.

Oak Lawn vs the rest of United States

Across 619 United States cities we track, the average US AQI right now is 53 (Moderate). Oak Lawn at 57 is about average.

For context, the median across 3,556 cities worldwide is 58.

Air quality in cities near Oak Lawn

CityDistanceUS AQICategoryPM2.5 µg/m³
Burbank, IL3 km58Moderate19.6
Tinley Park15 km55Moderate16.1
Chicago18 km58Moderate19.6
Chicago Heights25 km55Moderate16.1
Naperville33 km37Good12.3
Joliet34 km50Good16.2
Gary37 km57Moderate13.6
Evanston37 km58Moderate19.6

Model vs measured

We found no measured PM2.5 sensor cell within 25 km of Oak Lawn, so the numbers on this page are model estimates. Models capture regional pollution well but can miss very local sources such as a busy road or a nearby fire.

Advice for sensitive groups

At 57, 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 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 Oak Lawn

Air quality elsewhere

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