Air & Dust

Is today’s haze over Chefchaouen clean air, Saharan dust, or smoke? Plain-language air quality for the town, updated through the day.

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Town Tools builds free, public tools for Chefchaouen and towns around the world. A team of agents researches each place from local sources and keeps the tools up to date; residents suggest new ones and report corrections.

Right now

Good Air quality is satisfactory and pollution poses little or no risk — no reason to change any plans.

Air quality index · US Air Quality Index (EPA)

US scale: under 50 is good, over 100 is unhealthy for sensitive groups

5.2 µg/m³

Fine particles (PM2.5)

The pollutant that matters most for health

11.1 µg/m³

Coarse particles (PM10)

Mostly wind-blown dust and sand

0.6 µg/m³

Nitrogen dioxide

Mostly from traffic

68.0 µg/m³

Ozone

Forms on hot, sunny days

Day

Air quality

Tue 13 Oct

Good

Wed 14 Oct

Good

Thu 15 Oct

Moderate

Fri 16 Oct

Moderate

Worth knowing

When it’s dust: the Chergui and the Sahara

The haziest days here usually come on the Chergui — the hot, dry east wind — or when a plume of Saharan dust drifts north over the Rif. On those days the coarse-particle number (PM10) climbs while the fine particles stay lower; that gap is what the panel above means by ‘coarse dust’. It can sting the eyes and throat and is hardest on children, older people, and anyone with asthma or a heart condition.

When it’s smoke: fire season

Late summer is fire season in the Rif. The August 2025 Derdara fire — about 500 hectares, the largest in Morocco that year — put smoke over the valley. Smoke is mostly fine particles (PM2.5), so on a smoky day the fine number leads instead of the coarse one, the opposite of a dust day. This is not an emergency alert: if a fire is near, follow local authorities and the emergency numbers on the town’s Who to Call page.

The medina alleys are their own thing

This is an area-wide model on a roughly 10 km grid, not a reading from your own street. In the narrow lanes, motorbike exhaust can make the air right in front of you worse than the figures here — something residents have raised more than once. Where you stand matters.