Air quality
Air quality in Plovdiv today
Updated
Moderate (US AQI 62) Acceptable for most people. Unusually sensitive people should consider shortening long or heavy exertion outdoors. Model estimate for Sun, Oct 25, 9:33 pm (19:33 UTC).
Live AQI, PM2.5, PM10 and ozone for Plovdiv, Bulgaria, with a 48-hour forecast and the best time to be outside.
- US AQI now
- 62 Moderate
- PM2.5
- 23 µg/m³ 1.6× WHO 24-h guideline
- PM10
- 26 µg/m³
- Ozone
- 38 µg/m³
Air quality in Plovdiv right now
Right now the modelled US Air Quality Index for Plovdiv, Bulgaria is 62, 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 23 µg/m³, 1.6 times the WHO 24-hour guideline of 15 µg/m³; PM10 is 26 µg/m³ against a guideline of 45; ozone is 38 µg/m³ (below the WHO 8-hour level of 100); nitrogen dioxide is 13 µg/m³ (below the 24-hour guideline of 25).
NASA FIRMS shows 66 fire hotspots within 300 km in the last day (nearest about 61 km), but particle levels are not elevated enough to point to smoke right now.
Plovdiv vs the rest of Bulgaria
Across 4 Bulgaria cities we track, the average US AQI right now is 53 (Moderate). Plovdiv at 62 is 9 points worse than average.
It ranks 4 of 4 from cleanest to most polluted; the cleanest is Varna (35) and the most polluted Plovdiv (62).
For context, the median across 3,909 cities worldwide is 56.
Air quality in cities near Plovdiv
| City | Distance | US AQI | Category | PM2.5 µg/m³ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Xánthi | 114 km | 38 | Good | 7.3 |
| Dráma | 122 km | 43 | Good | 8.4 |
| Sofia | 132 km | 59 | Moderate | 22.1 |
| Montana | 187 km | 54 | Moderate | 16.4 |
| Alexandria, Teleorman County | 209 km | 52 | Moderate | 9.5 |
| Thessaloníki | 226 km | 44 | Good | 11.9 |
| Skopje | 274 km | 74 | Moderate | 20.3 |
| Bucharest | 276 km | 60 | Moderate | 17.6 |
Model vs measured
The nearest measured PM2.5 reading is 19 µg/m³ from Sensor.Community (median of 61 sensors), centred about 10 km from the city centre. That is 4.6 µg/m³ below the model estimate of 23 µg/m³. Low-cost sensors can read high in humid air; reference monitors are more accurate but sparser.
Advice for sensitive groups
At 62, 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 Plovdiv
Air quality elsewhere
Data: Open-Meteo Air Quality API, Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS), Sensor.Community, NASA FIRMS.