Air Quality in Tripoli

Today's air quality in Tripoli — fine particles from traffic and the diesel generators the city runs on, in plain language.

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About these tools

Town Tools builds free, public tools for Tripoli 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

22.3 µg/m³

Fine particles (PM2.5)

The pollutant that matters most for health

6.1 µg/m³

Nitrogen dioxide

Mostly from traffic

102.0 µg/m³

Ozone

Forms on hot, sunny days

Day

Air quality

Tue 13 Oct

Moderate

Wed 14 Oct

Moderate

Thu 15 Oct

Moderate

Fri 16 Oct

Moderate

Worth knowing

The generators are part of the air we breathe

With the state grid supplying only a few hours a day, most of Tripoli runs on private neighbourhood generators (the ishtirak). That diesel exhaust is a documented health cost. The most detailed studies are from Beirut — where researchers at the American University of Beirut found that running generators just a few hours a day roughly doubled the carcinogenic particles people breathe, and that diesel was the single biggest source of the city's fine particles — but the same generator economy runs Tripoli. When the grid is off and the neighbourhood is humming on diesel, the exhaust is in the air around you.

The sea breeze helps; still air traps it

Tripoli sits on the coast, and an onshore breeze off the sea clears the air through much of the day. It's on still, windless nights — and when generators run hardest — that fine particles build up closest to the ground, which is often why the early morning feels heaviest before the wind picks up.

Who feels it first

Fine-particle pollution is hardest on children, older people, pregnant women, and anyone with asthma or a heart or lung condition. On a high-reading day it helps to keep hard outdoor exercise for a cleaner window, and to keep windows shut on a still evening when a generator nearby is running. Standing right beside a running generator or a busy road is always worse than the area average.

This is a model, not a street monitor

Lebanon has no working public air-quality station in Tripoli — the environment ministry's monitoring network has published nothing since 2018 — so this reading comes from a satellite-fed model of the area, not a sensor on your street. Treat it as a guide to the trend and the bad days, not a precise measurement of the air at your window.

Air Quality in Tripoli

About these tools

Right now

Next few days

Worth knowing

The generators are part of the air we breathe

The sea breeze helps; still air traps it

Who feels it first

This is a model, not a street monitor