Beijing Air Quality: pm2.5

Sorry

The embassy site has not published data for Beijing for a week so far, since January 4. There isn't much I can do when they are back online, but if they publish historical data for this time (usually twice a year) I'll see if they have data and add it to the database if they do. New! see recent site status at status.airquality.young-0.com (thanks to UptimeRobot)

2018 summaries:
Beijing's average PM2.5 has continued to improve dramatically again

2008
(partial year)		 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
150 166 166 159 151 162 158 141 132 118 109
After dramatic improvement in 2017 the pace continued in 2018. The top 4 months of 2018 all bettered the previous best of August 2017, with September the new record holder at 72.7. January, September, and October all had 40% green days. The worst month was March, which rated #75 of the 127 months in the database. See the monthly comparison chart

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Get results for ending: Now At: -- at :00
New! Beijing smog forecast from banshirne.com
Next time with good air: ???
Next morning with clean air: ???
Last updated at 2024-12-02 13:00 UTC

More complete forecast information can be found at aqicn.org


City:
Scale: US China What does this mean?


Data for previous years can be accessed in csv form from the summary pages

 

Beijing Results from 2016-10-14 20:00 to 2016-10-20 20:00

Hours: 145 Readings: 138 Average: 194.76 High: 338 Low: 66

Summary
< 0 (no reading)
4.83% (7)

< 50 (Good)
0.00% (0)

< 100 (Moderate)
6.21% (9)

< 150 (Heavy)
13.10% (19)

< 200 (Unhealthy)
40.00% (58)

< 300 (Very unhealthy)
26.90% (39)

< 500 (Hazardous)
8.97% (13)

< 9999 (Crazy bad)
0.00% (0)

2016-10-20 20:00
132

2016-10-20 19:00
132

2016-10-20 18:00
122

2016-10-20 17:00
119

2016-10-20 16:00
105

2016-10-20 15:00
110

2016-10-20 14:00
105

2016-10-20 13:00
105

2016-10-20 12:00
99

2016-10-20 11:00
95

2016-10-20 10:00
102

2016-10-20 09:00
89

2016-10-20 08:00
107

2016-10-20 07:00
129

2016-10-20 06:00
158

2016-10-20 05:00
289

2016-10-20 04:00
296

2016-10-20 03:00
330

2016-10-20 02:00
323

2016-10-20 01:00
309

2016-10-20 00:00
312

2016-10-19 23:00
333

2016-10-19 22:00
302

2016-10-19 21:00
303

2016-10-19 20:00
306

2016-10-19 19:00
308

2016-10-19 18:00
312

2016-10-19 17:00
(no data)

2016-10-19 16:00
(no data)

2016-10-19 15:00
(no data)

2016-10-19 14:00
338

2016-10-19 13:00
286

2016-10-19 12:00
252

2016-10-19 11:00
(no data)

2016-10-19 10:00
263

2016-10-19 09:00
247

2016-10-19 08:00
233

2016-10-19 07:00
210

2016-10-19 06:00
216

2016-10-19 05:00
200

2016-10-19 04:00
196

2016-10-19 03:00
199

2016-10-19 02:00
197

2016-10-19 01:00
203

2016-10-19 00:00
199

2016-10-18 23:00
210

2016-10-18 22:00
218

2016-10-18 21:00
213

2016-10-18 20:00
215

2016-10-18 19:00
199

2016-10-18 18:00
197

2016-10-18 17:00
195

2016-10-18 16:00
190

2016-10-18 15:00
191

2016-10-18 14:00
185

2016-10-18 13:00
185

2016-10-18 12:00
192

2016-10-18 11:00
182

2016-10-18 10:00
167

2016-10-18 09:00
159

2016-10-18 08:00
152

2016-10-18 07:00
132

2016-10-18 06:00
124

2016-10-18 05:00
132

2016-10-18 04:00
122

2016-10-18 03:00
157

2016-10-18 02:00
169

2016-10-18 01:00
171

2016-10-18 00:00
176

2016-10-17 23:00
176

2016-10-17 22:00
172

2016-10-17 21:00
160

2016-10-17 20:00
154

2016-10-17 19:00
115

2016-10-17 18:00
110

2016-10-17 17:00
110

2016-10-17 16:00
115

2016-10-17 15:00
66

2016-10-17 14:00
84

2016-10-17 13:00
72

2016-10-17 12:00
76

2016-10-17 11:00
78

2016-10-17 10:00
87

2016-10-17 09:00
161

2016-10-17 08:00
164

2016-10-17 07:00
170

2016-10-17 06:00
167

2016-10-17 05:00
171

2016-10-17 04:00
181

2016-10-17 03:00
184

2016-10-17 02:00
192

2016-10-17 01:00
188

2016-10-17 00:00
195

2016-10-16 23:00
194

2016-10-16 22:00
182

2016-10-16 21:00
180

2016-10-16 20:00
174

2016-10-16 19:00
168

2016-10-16 18:00
164

2016-10-16 17:00
158

2016-10-16 16:00
163

2016-10-16 15:00
165

2016-10-16 14:00
171

2016-10-16 13:00
183

2016-10-16 12:00
186

2016-10-16 11:00
185

2016-10-16 10:00
177

2016-10-16 09:00
173

2016-10-16 08:00
182

2016-10-16 07:00
186

2016-10-16 06:00
190

2016-10-16 05:00
195

2016-10-16 04:00
187

2016-10-16 03:00
187

2016-10-16 02:00
184

2016-10-16 01:00
192

2016-10-16 00:00
239

2016-10-15 23:00
244

2016-10-15 22:00
243

2016-10-15 21:00
224

2016-10-15 20:00
230

2016-10-15 19:00
238

2016-10-15 18:00
243

2016-10-15 17:00
(no data)

2016-10-15 16:00
218

2016-10-15 15:00
217

2016-10-15 14:00
212

2016-10-15 13:00
215

2016-10-15 12:00
211

2016-10-15 11:00
211

2016-10-15 10:00
(no data)

2016-10-15 09:00
(no data)

2016-10-15 08:00
211

2016-10-15 07:00
256

2016-10-15 06:00
292

2016-10-15 05:00
300

2016-10-15 04:00
288

2016-10-15 03:00
277

2016-10-15 02:00
304

2016-10-15 01:00
283

2016-10-15 00:00
266

2016-10-14 23:00
272

2016-10-14 22:00
268

2016-10-14 21:00
254

2016-10-14 20:00
283

Wired had an article about how the US Embassy AQI tweets helped speed up China's monitoring and addressing its pollution problem. I'd like to think my page also helped.
The original purpose of this site was to save historical data, which at the time the US Embassy did not supply. A while ago they started making it available too. The site is stateair.net. They have some explicit restrictions and limitations on use of their data.

More information on my site can be found here, or visit my main site. That page also has links where you can get history updates or link to a graphics label that can be put on web pages. And, for ubuntu users, there is an app that shows the current API in the top bar.

PM2.5 measurements are commonly given in 2 different units, ug/m3 and AQI. The difference between them is explained here, and here is a calculator that will let you convert one to the other. AQI only goes up to 500, what do those "crazy bad" readings mean?

Here is a story about a guy who has another, more qualitative way to show the data: every day he takes a picture of the same scene outside his window. His blog (in Chinese) is at http://weibo.com/u/1000481815.

Daily 2014 images

Daily 2015 images

Does not work well with IE, but does with Chrome, Firefox, and Opera - and I don't care about IE.