Air quality
Air quality in Skopje today
Updated
Moderate (US AQI 69) Acceptable for most people. Unusually sensitive people should consider shortening long or heavy exertion outdoors. Model estimate for Mon, Oct 26, 2:00 am (01:00 UTC).
Live AQI, PM2.5, PM10 and ozone for Skopje, Grad Skopje, North Macedonia, with a 48-hour forecast and the best time to be outside.
- US AQI now
- 69 Moderate
- PM2.5
- 21 µg/m³ 1.4× WHO 24-h guideline
- PM10
- 24 µg/m³
- Ozone
- 28 µg/m³
- Dominant pollutant
- PM2.5 sub-index 69
- Best hour today
- 11:00 am AQI 66
- European AQI
- 44
Air quality in Skopje right now
Right now the modelled US Air Quality Index for Skopje, Grad Skopje, North Macedonia is 69, 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 69. 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 21 µg/m³, 1.4 times the WHO 24-hour guideline of 15 µg/m³; PM10 is 24 µg/m³ against a guideline of 45; ozone is 28 µg/m³ (below the WHO 8-hour level of 100); nitrogen dioxide is 22 µg/m³ (below the 24-hour guideline of 25).
Also this hour: carbon monoxide 219 µg/m³.
NASA FIRMS shows 1 fire hotspot within 300 km in the last day (nearest about 42 km), but particle levels are not elevated enough to point to smoke right now.
Skopje AQI forecast: next 48 hours
Over the next 24 hours the AQI is forecast to range from 63 around Tue 2:00 am to 69 around Mon 2:00 am, staying "Moderate" throughout.
The following day is expected to be cleaner, averaging about 57 against 67 for the next 24 hours.
| Local time (Europe/Skopje) | US AQI | Category | PM2.5 µg/m³ | PM10 µg/m³ | Ozone µg/m³ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mon 2:00 am | 69 | Moderate | 21.4 | 24 | 28 |
| Mon 5:00 am | 68 | Moderate | 20.4 | 22 | 31 |
| Mon 8:00 am | 67 | Moderate | 19 | 20 | 24 |
| Mon 11:00 am | 66 | Moderate | 16 | 19 | 48 |
| Mon 2:00 pm | 67 | Moderate | 11 | 13 | 57 |
| Mon 5:00 pm | 67 | Moderate | 9.9 | 11 | 53 |
| Mon 8:00 pm | 66 | Moderate | 18.2 | 20 | 32 |
| Mon 11:00 pm | 65 | Moderate | 18.8 | 21 | 43 |
| Tue 2:00 am | 63 | Moderate | 11 | 15 | 44 |
| Tue 5:00 am | 61 | Moderate | 9.2 | 14 | 43 |
| Tue 8:00 am | 58 | Moderate | 10.7 | 13 | 45 |
| Tue 11:00 am | 57 | Moderate | 6.9 | 9 | 66 |
| Tue 2:00 pm | 55 | Moderate | 6 | 9 | 72 |
| Tue 5:00 pm | 54 | Moderate | 14 | 18 | 53 |
| Tue 8:00 pm | 55 | Moderate | 19.8 | 23 | 34 |
| Tue 11:00 pm | 55 | Moderate | 16.6 | 19 | 39 |
| Wed 2:00 am | 55 | Moderate | 12.9 | 16 | 36 |
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 Skopje today
Between 6 am and 9 pm local time, the cleanest air today is forecast around 11:00 am (AQI 66, Moderate) and the worst around 6:00 am (AQI 68). The difference across the day is small, so timing matters little.
Air quality in cities near Skopje
| City | Distance | US AQI | Category | PM2.5 µg/m³ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pristina | 78 km | 64 | Moderate | 16.3 |
| Tirana | 153 km | 34 | Good | 7.6 |
| Sofia | 174 km | 59 | Moderate | 14 |
| Thessaloníki | 196 km | 49 | Good | 10.5 |
| Montana | 215 km | 57 | Moderate | 15.1 |
| Dráma | 245 km | 39 | Good | 6.3 |
| Plovdiv | 274 km | 63 | Moderate | 17.3 |
| Xánthi | 303 km | 35 | Good | 5.2 |
Model vs measured
The nearest measured PM2.5 reading is 15 µg/m³ from Sensor.Community (median of 20 sensors), centred about 16 km from the city centre. That is 6.5 µg/m³ below the model estimate of 21 µg/m³. Low-cost sensors can read high in humid air; reference monitors are more accurate but sparser.
Advice for sensitive groups
At 69, 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 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 Skopje
Air quality elsewhere
Data: Open-Meteo Air Quality API, Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS), Sensor.Community, NASA FIRMS.