Air Today

Today's air quality in plain language, updated hourly — with the valley's two smoke stories told straight.

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Town Tools builds free, public tools for Santa Clarita 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

Moderate Acceptable for almost everyone. A small number of people who are unusually sensitive to air pollution may notice it.

Air quality index · US Air Quality Index (EPA)

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

10.5 µg/m³

Fine particles (PM2.5)

The pollutant that matters most for health

12.3 µg/m³

Nitrogen dioxide

Mostly from traffic

55.0 µg/m³

Ozone

Forms on hot, sunny days

Day

Air quality

Tue, Oct 13

Moderate

Wed, Oct 14

Moderate

Thu, Oct 15

Good

Fri, Oct 16

Good

Worth knowing

Wildfire smoke is the big swing

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 landfill smell is a different problem

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.

Heat rides along

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.

Where the official numbers live

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).