Air quality

Air quality in Rugao today

Updated

Moderate (US AQI 68) Acceptable for most people. Unusually sensitive people should consider shortening long or heavy exertion outdoors. Model estimate for Mon, Oct 26, 4:00 am (20:00 UTC).

Live AQI, PM2.5, PM10 and ozone for Rugao, Jiangsu, China, with a 48-hour forecast and the best time to be outside.

US AQI now
68 Moderate
PM2.5
37 µg/m³ 2.5× WHO 24-h guideline
PM10
42 µg/m³
Ozone
42 µg/m³
Dominant pollutant
PM2.5 sub-index 68
Best hour today
6:00 am AQI 73
European AQI
53

Open on the live map

Air quality in Rugao right now

Right now the modelled US Air Quality Index for Rugao, Jiangsu, China is 68, 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 68. 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 37 µg/m³, 2.5 times the WHO 24-hour guideline of 15 µg/m³; PM10 is 42 µg/m³ against a guideline of 45; ozone is 42 µg/m³ (below the WHO 8-hour level of 100); nitrogen dioxide is 20 µg/m³ (below the 24-hour guideline of 25).

Also this hour: carbon monoxide 325 µg/m³.

Rugao AQI forecast: next 48 hours

Over the next 24 hours the AQI is forecast to range from 68 around Mon 4:00 am to 95 around Mon 10:00 pm, staying "Moderate" throughout.

The following day is expected to be cleaner, averaging about 80 against 87 for the next 24 hours.

Local time (Asia/Shanghai)US AQICategoryPM2.5 µg/m³PM10 µg/m³Ozone µg/m³
Mon 4:00 am68Moderate37.14242
Mon 7:00 am76Moderate44.44930
Mon 10:00 am84Moderate38.34852
Mon 1:00 pm88Moderate27.83382
Mon 4:00 pm91Moderate242871
Mon 7:00 pm93Moderate31.93436
Mon 10:00 pm95Moderate23.92824
Tue 1:00 am94Moderate243019
Tue 4:00 am92Moderate24.93127
Tue 7:00 am88Moderate23.33042
Tue 10:00 am83Moderate20.33061
Tue 1:00 pm80Moderate20.43174
Tue 4:00 pm78Moderate21.83567
Tue 7:00 pm77Moderate23.33148
Tue 10:00 pm76Moderate21.82735
Wed 1:00 am75Moderate19.62627
Wed 4:00 am74Moderate19.62923

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 Rugao today

Between 6 am and 9 pm local time, the cleanest air today is forecast around 6:00 am (AQI 73, Moderate) and the worst around 8:00 pm (AQI 94). That is a swing of 21 points, so a run or walk around 6:00 am is noticeably better.

Rugao vs the rest of China

Across 467 China cities we track, the average US AQI right now is 84 (Moderate). Rugao at 68 is 16 points cleaner than average.

For context, the median across 3,909 cities worldwide is 56.

Air quality in cities near Rugao

CityDistanceUS AQICategoryPM2.5 µg/m³
Nantong47 km72Moderate39.1
Zhangjiagang56 km69Moderate36.3
Jiangyin59 km69Moderate36.3
Taizhou64 km69Moderate39.1
Changshu82 km72Moderate38.2
Changzhou89 km71Moderate35.4
Wuxi93 km72Moderate36.4
Zhenjiang107 km69Moderate35.7

Model vs measured

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

Wildfire smoke

PM2.5 is forecast to reach 46 µg/m³ in the next 24 hours while NASA satellites detected 9 fire hotspots within 300 km in the last day (nearest about 43 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 68, 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 Rugao

Air quality elsewhere

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