Today's modelled air quality over the townsite, updated hourly — in fire season, the smoke picture, with the honest note that Dawson has no monitoring station.
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Today's modelled air quality over the Dawson townsite, updated hourly. In fire season this is mostly a smoke page: wildfire smoke — from the Dawson district's own fires or drifting in from the rest of the Yukon and Alaska — is what moves these numbers here.
Fair Fine for being outside, including exercise, for almost everyone.
| Day | Air quality |
|---|---|
| Thu 30 Jul | Fair |
| Fri 31 Jul | Fair |
| Sat 1 Aug | Fair |
| Sun 2 Aug | Fair |
Smoke can settle into the valley for days at a time in summer. In June 2025, with the Quebec Creek fire about 10 km from Upper West Dawson and roughly 100 homes on evacuation alert, smoke hung visibly over town while the grid ran on diesel backup. When fires are active, check Wildfires Near Dawson for what is burning and where.
There is no air-quality monitoring station in Dawson; Environment Canada's Air Quality Health Index covers only Whitehorse, far to the south. The readings here come from the Copernicus atmosphere model on a roughly 10 km grid — good for the trend, not a street-corner measurement. If you can smell smoke, trust your senses and the Yukon wildfire updates over any number on this page.
Updated . These are modelled estimates for the area around the Dawson townsite, not readings from a street monitor — air right beside a busy road can be worse than the area-wide picture. Official forecast: yukon.ca. Air quality data by Open-Meteo (CC BY 4.0), based on Copernicus CAMS.