Edinburgh air quality
United Kingdom · Live AQI and hourly forecast for the next 5 days · updated Sun 00:00 local time
Good
Great air. A perfect time to be outside.
- Next 24 hours
- 30–33US AQI, highest around Sun 18:00
- Best time outside
- Sun 00:00–3:00US AQI about 30
- PM2.5 vs WHO guideline
- 0.2×3.1 µg/m³ over 24 h, guideline 15
- Cigarette equivalent
- ≈ 0.1 a dayBerkeley Earth rule of thumb
- European AQI
- Fairlevel 2 of 6
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Pollutants in Edinburgh right now
| Pollutant | Now | Next 24 h vs WHO | US AQI band |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fine particles (PM2.5) | 3.6 µg/m³ | 0.2× | Good |
| Coarse particles (PM10) | 7.3 µg/m³ | 0.1× | Good |
| Nitrogen dioxide (NO2) | 2.2 µg/m³ | 0.1× | Good |
| Ozone (O3) | 67 µg/m³ | 0.7× | Good |
| Sulphur dioxide (SO2) | 0.2 µg/m³ | 0.0× | Good |
| Carbon monoxide (CO) | 164 µg/m³ | 0.0× | Good |
| Desert dust | 0 µg/m³ | ||
| Smoke and haze (aerosol optical depth) | 0.08 | ||
| UV index | 0.0 |
“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 33 around Sun 18:00, lowest 24 around Mon 09:00.
5-day air quality forecast for Edinburgh
Daily range of the hourly US AQI, from lowest to highest, on a scale of 0 to 150.
| Day | US AQI | At worst | PM2.5 avg | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sun 27 Sept | 30–33 | 3.1 | ||
| Mon 28 Sept | 24–30 | 3.3 | ||
| Tue 29 Sept | 20–33 | 4.9 | ||
| Wed 30 Sept | 31–34 | 5.1 | ||
| Thu 1 Oct | 24–33 | 4.2 |
Common questions about the air in Edinburgh
Is the air in Edinburgh safe today?
Yes. Right now the US AQI in Edinburgh is 30, which counts as good. Great air. A perfect time to be outside.
When is the best time to be outside in Edinburgh?
Sun 00:00–3:00. That is the cleanest stretch in the next 24 hours, with the US AQI averaging about 30. The worst hour is around Sun 18:00, at 33.
What is the main pollutant in Edinburgh?
Ozone (O3). It drives the index right now, at 67 µg/m³. Formed by sunlight acting on traffic and plant emissions. Highest on hot, still afternoons, often downwind of cities.
How does Edinburgh's air compare with the WHO guideline?
Within the guideline. Over the next 24 hours PM2.5 averages about 3.1 µg/m³, against the World Health Organization's 24-hour guideline of 15 µg/m³. The other pollutants stay within their guideline levels.
How many cigarettes is a day of Edinburgh's air?
About 0.1 cigarettes. Over the next 24 hours PM2.5 averages about 3.1 µg/m³. By Berkeley Earth's rule of thumb, 22 µg/m³ breathed for a day is roughly one cigarette.
Will air quality in Edinburgh improve this week?
Monday looks cleanest. Its AQI peaks at 30, against 34 on Wednesday, the worst day in the forecast.
Measured near Edinburgh
| Station | PM2.5 µg/m³ | Measured |
|---|---|---|
| Unnamed sensor Sensor.Community, low-cost sensor | 2.7 | Sun 00:49 |
| Unnamed sensor Sensor.Community, low-cost sensor | 2.0 | Sun 00:48 |
| Unnamed sensor Sensor.Community, low-cost sensor | 1.9 | Sun 00:49 |
Air quality near Edinburgh
- Manchester 282 km S
- Dublin 350 km SW
- London 534 km SE
- Amsterdam 660 km SE
- Brussels 755 km SE
- Paris 873 km SE
About this forecast
Forecast from CAMS Europe and 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 55.95°N, 3.19°W, updated 2026-09-26 23:00 UTC.