Air & Wildfire Smoke

Today's air quality in Tofino in plain language, updated hourly — built for the summer wildfire-smoke days.

About these tools

Most days Tofino's air is as clean as it looks. The exception is summer wildfire smoke, which can drift over the coast and the Highway 4 corridor even when the fires are far inland. This reads the model hourly so you can see whether today's haze is smoke worth staying in for.

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

4.2 µg/m³

Fine particles (PM2.5)

The pollutant that matters most for health

0.5 µg/m³

Nitrogen dioxide

Mostly from traffic

53.0 µg/m³

Ozone

Forms on hot, sunny days

Next few days

Day	Air quality
Mon, Aug 24	Good
Tue, Aug 25	Good
Wed, Aug 26	Good
Thu, Aug 27	Good

Worth knowing

Smoke and the highway go together

The same inland fires that put smoke over Tofino are the ones that close Highway 4 — the 2023 Cameron Bluffs fire did both. In fire season, if the air is smoky, check the road status too.

What the number means

The headline is the US Air Quality Index for fine particles (PM2.5) — the pollutant wildfire smoke is made of. It's a guide, not a medical instruction; people with asthma, heart conditions, infants and elders feel smoke first and should follow their own plan and their doctor's advice.

Updated now. These are modelled estimates for the area around Tofino, not readings from a street monitor — air right beside a busy road can be worse than the area-wide picture. The official index where you are is the Air Quality Health Index from Environment and Climate Change Canada. Official forecast: env.gov.bc.ca. Air quality data by Open-Meteo (CC BY 4.0), based on Copernicus CAMS.