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Canberra air quality

Australia · Live AQI and hourly forecast for the next 5 days · updated Sun 10:00 local time

22

Good

US AQI, mostly O3

Great air. A perfect time to be outside.

Next 24 hours
21–23US AQI, highest around Sun 13:00
Best time outside
Mon 00:00–3:00US AQI about 21
PM2.5 vs WHO guideline
0.3×4.2 µg/m³ over 24 h, guideline 15
Cigarette equivalent
≈ 0.2 a dayBerkeley Earth rule of thumb
European AQI
Goodlevel 1 of 6

Loading the live globe…

The live globe, centred on Canberra. Switch pollutants, drag through the next 5 days or press play. Full map →

Pollutants in Canberra right now

PollutantNowNext 24 h vs WHOUS AQI band
Fine particles (PM2.5) 1.1 µg/m³ 0.3× Good
Coarse particles (PM10) 1.7 µg/m³ 0.1× Good
Nitrogen dioxide (NO2) 1.0 µg/m³ 0.0× Good
Ozone (O3) 51 µg/m³ 0.5× Good
Sulphur dioxide (SO2) 0.3 µg/m³ 0.0× Good
Carbon monoxide (CO) 62 µg/m³ 0.0× Good
Desert dust0 µg/m³
Smoke and haze (aerosol optical depth)0.09
UV index1.4

“Next 24 h vs WHO” compares the forecast with the World Health Organization’s 2021 guideline levels: 24-hour means of 15 µg/m³ for PM2.5, 45 for PM10, 25 for NO2, 40 for SO2 and 4 mg/m³ for CO, and 100 µg/m³ over 8 hours for ozone. Above 1× is above the guideline.

Next 48 hours

Hourly US AQI. Highest 39 around Tue 09:00, lowest 21 around Mon 00:00.

Good 0–50Moderate 51–100Sensitive 101–150Unhealthy 151–200Very unhealthy 201–300Hazardous 301+

5-day air quality forecast for Canberra

Daily range of the hourly US AQI, from lowest to highest, on a scale of 0 to 150.

DayUS AQIAt worstWorst hourPM2.5 avgUV max
Sun 27 Sept 21–24 Good 0:00 2.5 1.8
Mon 28 Sept 21–30 Good 16:00 5.4 5.5
Tue 29 Sept 30–39 Good 9:00 7.0 7.1
Wed 30 Sept 36–39 Good 0:00 6.3 6.9
Thu 1 Oct 29–35 Good 0:00 5.1 8.2

Common questions about the air in Canberra

  1. Is the air in Canberra safe today?

    Yes. Right now the US AQI in Canberra is 22, which counts as good. Great air. A perfect time to be outside.

  2. When is the best time to be outside in Canberra?

    Mon 00:00–3:00. That is the cleanest stretch in the next 24 hours, with the US AQI averaging about 21. The worst hour is around Sun 13:00, at 23.

  3. What is the main pollutant in Canberra?

    Ozone (O3). It drives the index right now, at 51 µg/m³. Formed by sunlight acting on traffic and plant emissions. Highest on hot, still afternoons, often downwind of cities.

  4. How does Canberra's air compare with the WHO guideline?

    Within the guideline. Over the next 24 hours PM2.5 averages about 4.2 µg/m³, against the World Health Organization's 24-hour guideline of 15 µg/m³. The other pollutants stay within their guideline levels.

  5. How many cigarettes is a day of Canberra's air?

    About 0.2 cigarettes. Over the next 24 hours PM2.5 averages about 4.2 µg/m³. By Berkeley Earth's rule of thumb, 22 µg/m³ breathed for a day is roughly one cigarette.

  6. Will air quality in Canberra improve this week?

    Today looks cleanest. Its AQI peaks at 24, against 39 on Tuesday, the worst day in the forecast.

Measured near Canberra

StationDistancePM2.5 µg/m³Measured
Unnamed sensor Sensor.Community, low-cost sensor 3.7 km 0.2 Sun 10:27
Unnamed sensor Sensor.Community, low-cost sensor 12 km 0.0 Sun 10:28

Air quality near Canberra

All 161 cities

About this forecast

Forecast from CAMS global via Open-Meteo: the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) model at about 40 km resolution (10 km inside Europe), refreshed twice a day. Models smooth out street-level peaks, so busy roads and industrial sites can be worse than shown; ground stations, where there are any nearby, show what monitors actually measure. The US AQI follows the US EPA scale and the European AQI the EEA bands. Readings for 35.28°S, 149.13°E, updated 2026-09-27 00:00 UTC.