Today's air quality in plain language, updated hourly — with the valley's two smoke stories told straight.
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The modelled, valley-wide picture for Santa Clarita, updated hourly. Most days it is unremarkable — the days it is not are usually about smoke, and smoke here has two distinct sources.
Poor If you have asthma or a heart or lung condition, cut back on strenuous time outdoors. Anyone with sore eyes, a cough or a tight chest should take it easier too.
| Day | Air quality |
|---|---|
| Fri 10 Jul | Poor |
| Sat 11 Jul | Poor |
| Sun 12 Jul | Poor |
| Mon 13 Jul | Poor |
When fires burn nearby — or anywhere upwind in Southern California — particle numbers here can jump in hours. During the January 2025 fire week, the valley dealt with the Hughes Fire's smoke and the regional pall from the Palisades and Eaton fires at the same time. If the index is suddenly poor and you do not know why, check this site's Is Something Burning? page.
The Chiquita Canyon landfill's underground reaction sends odors and gases into Val Verde, Castaic and Hasley Hills. That is largely an odor and toxics matter that this page's index may not capture — a normal reading here does not mean the air near the landfill smells fine, and it is not evidence against anyone's symptoms. Report odors to South Coast AQMD at 1-800-CUT-SMOG (1-800-288-7664), and see this site's Chiquita Canyon page for where things stand.
Summer afternoons here run 90–95°F and ozone peaks with the heat — when the summer index is poor, early morning is usually the better window to be outside. The local record is 118°F, set in July 2024.
This page uses the European air-quality index from the Copernicus CAMS model — a fair area-wide picture, but not the US EPA AQI quoted on the news, and not a street monitor. For the official US AQI from monitors, use AirNow (airnow.gov); for advisories and the Santa Clarita Valley monitor, see South Coast AQMD (aqmd.gov).
Updated . These are modelled estimates for the area around central Santa Clarita, not readings from a street monitor — air right beside a busy road can be worse than the area-wide picture. Official forecast: airnow.gov. Air quality data by Open-Meteo (CC BY 4.0), based on Copernicus CAMS.