Air quality

Air quality in Zhangjiajie today

Updated

Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups (US AQI 115) People with heart or lung disease, older adults, children and teens should cut back on prolonged or heavy exertion outdoors. Model estimate for Mon, Oct 26, 5:00 am (21:00 UTC).

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

US AQI now
115 Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups
PM2.5
46 µg/m³ 3.1× WHO 24-h guideline
PM10
49 µg/m³
Ozone
49 µg/m³
Dominant pollutant
PM2.5 sub-index 115
Best hour today
9:00 pm AQI 105
European AQI
58

Open on the live map

Air quality in Zhangjiajie right now

Right now the modelled US Air Quality Index for Zhangjiajie, Hunan, China is 115, which falls in the "Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups" band (up to 150). People with heart or lung disease, older adults, children and teens should cut back on prolonged or heavy exertion outdoors.

The index is driven mainly by PM2.5, whose own sub-index is 115. 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 46 µg/m³, 3.1 times the WHO 24-hour guideline of 15 µg/m³; PM10 is 49 µg/m³ against a guideline of 45; ozone is 49 µg/m³ (below the WHO 8-hour level of 100); nitrogen dioxide is 17 µg/m³ (below the 24-hour guideline of 25).

Also this hour: carbon monoxide 380 µg/m³.

Zhangjiajie AQI forecast: next 48 hours

Over the next 24 hours the AQI is forecast to range from 99 around Tue 5:00 am to 115 around Mon 5:00 am, from "Moderate" at best to "Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups" at worst.

The following day is expected to be cleaner, averaging about 87 against 108 for the next 24 hours.

Local time (Asia/Shanghai)US AQICategoryPM2.5 µg/m³PM10 µg/m³Ozone µg/m³
Mon 5:00 am115Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups46.34949
Mon 8:00 am113Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups46.94942
Mon 11:00 am111Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups30.33397
Mon 2:00 pm109Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups283099
Mon 5:00 pm107Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups24.82697
Mon 8:00 pm106Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups35.63781
Mon 11:00 pm105Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups40.54267
Tue 2:00 am103Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups34.83662
Tue 5:00 am99Moderate25.52659
Tue 8:00 am94Moderate27.82836
Tue 11:00 am91Moderate23.92730
Tue 2:00 pm89Moderate162254
Tue 5:00 pm86Moderate17.32464
Tue 8:00 pm84Moderate19.52868
Tue 11:00 pm80Moderate23.63466
Wed 2:00 am77Moderate32.44155
Wed 5:00 am78Moderate36.34444

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 Zhangjiajie today

Between 6 am and 9 pm local time, the cleanest air today is forecast around 9:00 pm (AQI 105, Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups) and the worst around 6:00 am (AQI 115). That is a swing of 10 points, so a run or walk around 9:00 pm is noticeably better.

Zhangjiajie vs the rest of China

Across 447 China cities we track, the average US AQI right now is 84 (Moderate). Zhangjiajie at 115 is 31 points worse than average.

It ranks 375 of 447 from cleanest to most polluted; the cleanest is Baicheng (18) and the most polluted Kashgar (245).

For context, the median across 3,556 cities worldwide is 58.

Air quality in cities near Zhangjiajie

CityDistanceUS AQICategoryPM2.5 µg/m³
Changde119 km125Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups37.1
Fenghuang158 km102Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups37.1
Huaihua180 km96Moderate45.6
Zhijiang189 km126Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups44.7
Heshan192 km123Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups42.7
Yichang193 km134Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups49
Buhe213 km104Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups34
Jingzhou214 km104Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups34

Model vs measured

We found no measured PM2.5 sensor cell within 25 km of Zhangjiajie, 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 48 µg/m³ in the next 24 hours while NASA satellites detected 14 fire hotspots within 300 km in the last day (nearest about 119 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 115, children, older adults, pregnant people and anyone with asthma, COPD or heart disease should limit time outdoors, especially strenuous activity. A well-fitted N95/FFP2 mask cuts particle exposure; it does not filter ozone.

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 Zhangjiajie

Air quality elsewhere

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