Hourly modelled air quality for downtown Ottawa in plain language — and where to find Environment Canada's official AQHI when wildfire smoke moves in.
Town Tools builds free, public tools for Ottawa 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.
Today's modelled air quality for downtown Ottawa, updated hourly. On smoke days, Environment Canada's AQHI carries the official health guidance — link at the bottom of this page.
Fair Fine for being outside, including exercise, for almost everyone.
| Day | Air quality |
|---|---|
| Fri 10 Jul | Fair |
| Sat 11 Jul | Fair |
| Sun 12 Jul | Moderate |
| Mon 13 Jul | Moderate |
Ottawa's worst air days now come from wildfire smoke drifting in from fires elsewhere in Ontario, Quebec and beyond. In June 2023 the official index hit the top of its scale and Ottawa briefly had the worst air of any major city in the world; another smoke advisory covered the city in August 2025. On smoky days: close windows, ease off hard outdoor exercise, and check on people with heart or lung conditions.
This page shows the European air quality index from a global atmosphere model (Copernicus CAMS) — a good area-wide estimate, not a street monitor. Canada's official health index is the AQHI (cote air santé, 1 to 10+), published by Environment and Climate Change Canada with specific advice for Ottawa. When the two disagree on a bad-air day, trust the AQHI.
The pollen model behind this tool only covers Europe, so we don't show pollen numbers for Ottawa rather than show figures we can't stand behind.
Updated . These are modelled estimates for the area around downtown Ottawa, not readings from a street monitor — air right beside a busy road can be worse than the area-wide picture. Official forecast: weather.gc.ca. Air quality data by Open-Meteo (CC BY 4.0), based on Copernicus CAMS.