Prince George air quality
Prince George sits in a river valley where inversions can trap smoke and industrial emissions, so air quality here can change quickly. The Air Quality Health Index runs from 1 to 10+; lower is better.
Air Quality Health Index now
Source: Environment and Climate Change Canada, AQHI for Prince George, updated . Report a data problem
AQHI, past 48 hours and forecast
Source: Environment and Climate Change Canada, AQHI observations and forecasts, updated . Report a data problem
Pollutants right now
Model estimates for the city grid cell. The US AQI is shown because the model publishes it; Canada’s official index is the AQHI above.
Source: Open-Meteo air quality API (CAMS global model), updated . Report a data problem
Fine particulate (PM2.5), last 30 days and next 4 days
Source: Open-Meteo air quality API (CAMS global model), updated . Report a data problem
Monitoring stations in Prince George
Stations are run by the province and by local industry. Many measure only some pollutants; a dash means the station doesn’t report that value. TRS (total reduced sulphur) is the source of the pulp-mill smell.
Source: BC Ministry of Environment and Parks, air monitoring stations (latest hourly readings), updated . Report a data problem
Wildfire smoke
In most summers, smoke from wildfires in central BC and beyond drifts over the city, but how much varies a lot from year to year: August 2018 brought weeks of it. Environment Canada's 1991–2020 normals for the airport count about 5.2 days a year with smoke or haze reported (about 9 in the 1981–2010 normals), spread across the year rather than only in summer, because fall and winter inversions trap local smoke too. During heavy smoke, PM2.5 is the pollutant that matters most for health, and the AQHI can climb above 10 even when the day looks only slightly hazy.
When smoke is in the forecast, check the FireSmoke Canada forecast, the wildfire dashboard for fires in the region, and HealthLinkBC's wildfire smoke guidance. Air quality advisories for Prince George are issued by the BC Ministry of Environment and Northern Health.
Sources
- ECCC Air Quality Health Index, Prince George
- Open-Meteo air quality API
- BC air quality monitoring stations
- BC ambient air quality objectives
- FireSmoke Canada
- ECCC Canadian Climate Normals 1991–2020 (and 1981–2010 for comparison), Prince George Airport
How these figures are gathered
Live figures are fetched from these providers and cached briefly on our server. Provisional real-time data can be revised by the source. When a source is down we say so rather than guess.
- ECCC Air Quality Health Index, Prince George
- Hourly observations and forecast (location JBLVS)
- Open-Meteo air quality API
- CAMS global atmospheric composition model: PM2.5, PM10, ozone, NO₂, US AQI
- BC air quality monitoring stations
- Latest hourly readings from provincial and industry stations
- BC ambient air quality objectives
- PM2.5 24-hour objective of 25 µg/m³
- FireSmoke Canada
- Wildfire smoke forecasts
- ECCC Canadian Climate Normals 1991–2020 (and 1981–2010 for comparison), Prince George Airport
- Days with smoke or haze
