Air quality

Air quality in Schaerbeek today

Updated

Good (US AQI 33) 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 Schaerbeek, Brussels Capital, Belgium, with a 48-hour forecast and the best time to be outside.

US AQI now
33 Good
PM2.5
3.6 µg/m³ 0.2× WHO 24-h guideline
PM10
7.2 µg/m³
Ozone
68 µg/m³
Dominant pollutant
ozone sub-index 33
Best hour tomorrow
10:00 am AQI 26
European AQI
24

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Air quality in Schaerbeek right now

Right now the modelled US Air Quality Index for Schaerbeek, Brussels Capital, Belgium is 33, 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 ozone, whose own sub-index is 33. Ozone usually peaks in the afternoon on sunny days and falls back after sunset.

PM2.5 is 3.6 µg/m³, within the WHO 24-hour guideline of 15 µg/m³; PM10 is 7.2 µg/m³ against a guideline of 45; ozone is 68 µg/m³ (below the WHO 8-hour level of 100); nitrogen dioxide is 6.2 µg/m³ (below the 24-hour guideline of 25).

Also this hour: carbon monoxide 162 µg/m³.

NASA FIRMS shows 35 fire hotspots within 300 km in the last day (nearest about 52 km), but particle levels are not elevated enough to point to smoke right now.

Schaerbeek AQI forecast: next 48 hours

Over the next 24 hours the AQI is forecast to range from 26 around Mon 10:00 am to 33 around Sun 7:00 pm, staying "Good" throughout.

The following day looks similar, averaging about 27.

Local time (Europe/Brussels)US AQICategoryPM2.5 µg/m³PM10 µg/m³Ozone µg/m³
Sun 7:00 pm33Good3.6768
Sun 10:00 pm32Good4.5866
Mon 1:00 am31Good4.6965
Mon 4:00 am30Good51057
Mon 7:00 am28Good5.11251
Mon 10:00 am26Good5.21557
Mon 1:00 pm26Good4.81266
Mon 4:00 pm28Good4.21062
Mon 7:00 pm29Good4.5757
Mon 10:00 pm27Good4.8850
Tue 1:00 am27Good6.1945
Tue 4:00 am28Good4.9841
Tue 7:00 am28Good4.8841
Tue 10:00 am27Good4.1743
Tue 1:00 pm27Good3.8754
Tue 4:00 pm26Good4.4759
Tue 7:00 pm26Good5.2847

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 Schaerbeek tomorrow

Between 6 am and 9 pm local time, the cleanest air tomorrow is forecast around 10:00 am (AQI 26, Good) and the worst around 6:00 am (AQI 29). The difference across the day is small, so timing matters little.

Schaerbeek vs the rest of Belgium

Across 6 Belgium cities we track, the average US AQI right now is 33 (Good). Schaerbeek at 33 is about average.

It ranks 4 of 6 from cleanest to most polluted; the cleanest is Antwerp (30) and the most polluted Waterloo, Wallonia (33).

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

Air quality in cities near Schaerbeek

CityDistanceUS AQICategoryPM2.5 µg/m³
Brussels3 km33Good3.6
Anderlecht6 km33Good3.6
Forest7 km33Good3.6
Waterloo, Wallonia17 km33Good3.8
Antwerp39 km30Good4.7
Goes78 km34Good3.1
Eindhoven100 km32Good4.1
Best100 km32Good4.1

Model vs measured

The nearest measured PM2.5 reading is 2.2 µg/m³ from Sensor.Community (median of 160 sensors), centred about 5 km from the city centre. That is close to the model estimate of 3.6 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 33, 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 Schaerbeek

Air quality elsewhere

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