Air quality

Air quality in Oshawa today

Updated

Good (US AQI 35) Air quality is satisfactory and poses little or no risk; a good time for outdoor activity. Model estimate for Sun, Oct 25, 2:00 pm (18:00 UTC).

Live AQI, PM2.5, PM10 and ozone for Oshawa, Ontario, Canada, with a 48-hour forecast and the best time to be outside.

US AQI now
35 Good
PM2.5
7.3 µg/m³ 0.5× WHO 24-h guideline
PM10
7.4 µg/m³
Ozone
78 µg/m³
Dominant pollutant
PM2.5 sub-index 35
Best hour today
2:00 pm AQI 35
European AQI
29

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Air quality in Oshawa right now

Right now the modelled US Air Quality Index for Oshawa, Ontario, Canada is 35, 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 35. 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 7.3 µg/m³, within the WHO 24-hour guideline of 15 µg/m³; PM10 is 7.4 µg/m³ against a guideline of 45; ozone is 78 µg/m³ (below the WHO 8-hour level of 100); nitrogen dioxide is 14 µg/m³ (below the 24-hour guideline of 25).

Also this hour: UV index 2.7, carbon monoxide 221 µg/m³.

NASA FIRMS shows 81 fire hotspots within 300 km in the last day (nearest about 7 km), but particle levels are not elevated enough to point to smoke right now.

Oshawa AQI forecast: next 48 hours

Over the next 24 hours the AQI is forecast to range from 35 around Sun 2:00 pm to 58 around Mon 11:00 am, from "Good" at best to "Moderate" at worst.

The following day is expected to be cleaner, averaging about 42 against 49 for the next 24 hours.

Local time (America/Toronto)US AQICategoryPM2.5 µg/m³PM10 µg/m³Ozone µg/m³
Sun 2:00 pm35Good7.3778
Sun 5:00 pm39Good9.51074
Sun 8:00 pm44Good10.41170
Sun 11:00 pm47Good12.31259
Mon 2:00 am51Moderate161646
Mon 5:00 am53Moderate18.11849
Mon 8:00 am56Moderate19.62048
Mon 11:00 am58Moderate9.51057
Mon 2:00 pm57Moderate2.7467
Mon 5:00 pm56Moderate2.4365
Mon 8:00 pm54Moderate2.2357
Mon 11:00 pm52Moderate1.9252
Tue 2:00 am47Good1.1148
Tue 5:00 am36Good0.7147
Tue 8:00 am23Good1.2144
Tue 11:00 am22Good1.1158
Tue 2:00 pm24Good1.1267

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 Oshawa today

Between 6 am and 9 pm local time, the cleanest air today is forecast around 2:00 pm (AQI 35, Good) and the worst around 9:00 pm (AQI 45). That is a swing of 10 points, so a run or walk around 2:00 pm is noticeably better.

Oshawa vs the rest of Canada

Across 78 Canada cities we track, the average US AQI right now is 43 (Good). Oshawa at 35 is 8 points cleaner than average.

For context, the median across 3,909 cities worldwide is 57.

Air quality in cities near Oshawa

CityDistanceUS AQICategoryPM2.5 µg/m³
Whitby7 km35Good7.3
Markham34 km47Good7.3
Thornhill47 km35Good8.7
Richmond Hill47 km35Good8.7
Toronto49 km35Good8.7
Aurora, ON51 km57Moderate5.6
Vaughan52 km35Good8.7
Peterborough, ON62 km34Good4.5

Model vs measured

We found no measured PM2.5 sensor cell within 25 km of Oshawa, 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

With the AQI at 35, 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 Oshawa

Air quality elsewhere

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