PM2.5 Forecast for Beijing - Monday, September 30, 2013

Monday brings us yet another day of poor air quality in Beijing.  There are no clear trends for most of the day, but it looks like we will see PM2.5 levels at Very Unhealthy for almost the entire day.  We may see PM2.5 levels increase more quickly in the evening, possibly bringing us back up to Hazardous levels overnight. 

PM2.5 Forecast for Beijing - Sunday, September 29, 2013

We've had two days of very poor air quality, and Sunday may make it three days in a row.  There should be some clearing of the air in the early morning hours, but it is not clear how much.  These weather conditions could either just drop the AQI a few points or clear things out a good bit more.  These two possibilities are the reason for the wide prediction range shown in our graph.  But regardless how low the AQI goes in the early morning, we should see increasing PM2.5 from mid-morning on.  Once you know the AQI at 8AM, you should be able to calculate generally what the rest of the day will look like. 

PM2.5 Forecast for Beijing - Saturday, September 28, 2013

After Friday's shocking reminder that summer is over and winter is approaching, Saturday does not offer much improvement.  We can expect most of the day to be spent at Very Unhealthy, and we should see our highest PM2.5 levels in the mid-morning and late evening. 

PM2.5 Forecast for Beijing - Friday, September 27, 2013

It looks as if this run of great air has ended.  Late Thursday evening, we are already on the upper end of the Unhealthy Range, and the increasing trend should continue overnight.  It is likely that we will climb up into Very Unhealthy before the PM2.5 levels peak around 8AM.  Then we should see some decreasing in pollution in the late morning and afternoon before levels begin to rise again after sunset. 

PM2.5 Forecast for Beijing - Thursday, September 26, 2013

The good air quality from the first of this week keeps hanging around, much longer than the extended forecasts would have had us believe a day or two ago.  As a result, we could still see Good or Moderate air quality on Thursday morning and possibly even Thursday afternoon.  The general trend of PM2.5 levels should be moving up, potentially giving us Unhealthy air as early as noon, although that is not the most likely outcome.  The most likely trend would see us moving into Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups at or shortly after noon, then moving into Unhealthy after sunset. 

PM2.5 Forecast for Beijing - Wednesday, September 25, 2013

On Wednesday, we will see the end of our current run of great air.  PM2.5 levels should be at Good or Moderate through the morning and early afternoon, but we should see increasing pollution in the afternoon and evening.  If we are lucky, levels will stay down for most of the day, but the worst case scenario would see us moving into Unhealthy by the evening. 

PM2.5 Forecast for Beijing - Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Tuesday should partially continue the trend of good air, although we should see a brief uptick in PM2.5 levels in the afternoon that could move us up into Unhealthy air quality for a bit.  We could see the increasing begin as early as about 8AM, then it should peak around 6PM before returning to Good or Moderate air quality around midnight. 

PM2.5 Forecast for Beijing - Monday, September 23, 2013

Monday promises good air quality once again.  We could see PM2.5 levels increase in the hours just after midnight, but the air should begin to clear by about 3 or 4AM.  We could see Good or Moderate air quality as early as 5 or 6AM, but certainly no later than noon.  Then we should see Good or Moderate air quality for the rest of the day. 

PM2.5 Forecast for Beijing - Sunday, September 22, 2013

Sunday promises to be another roller coaster day for air quality in Beijing.  After Saturday's unexpected late clearing, we should see increasing PM2.5 levels through late morning.  Then we should see a bit of clearing, but it is unlikely that we will drop lower than Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups.  Then by sunset we should see pollution levels start to move up again. 

PM2.5 Forecast for Beijing - Saturday, September 21, 2013

PM2.5 Forecast for Beijing - Friday, September 20, 2013

After three days of poor air quality, we have a good chance at better air quality on Friday.  We could see the air start to clear shortly after midnight, and we could drop down into the Moderate and Good ranges as early as 6-9AM.  But it looks as if the clearing will be somewhat short-lived, as we will see increasing PM2.5 levels in the late afternoon and evening.  Our best air of the day should come somewhere around noon, so be sure to get outside and enjoy it. 

PM2.5 Forecast for Beijing - Thursday, September 19, 2013

Wednesday never brought us the clear air we were hoping for, and Thursday's forecasts indicate that we will probably be seeing our third day in a row of rainy, polluted air.  You can expect the PM2.5 levels to remain at Unhealthy or the lower range of Very Unhealthy for the entire day; there may be some variation, but it is very difficult to predict that hour-by-hour (as we've seen the last two days). 

PM2.5 Forecast for Beijing - Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Tuesday's rain and pollution will continue through the early part of Wednesday, but once the rain stops around late morning, we should see some clearing in the pollution as well.  We should spend the morning at Unhealthy, but by late in the morning we should see decreasing PM2.5 levels.  That should continue through the afternoon, so we should see our best air quality in the late afternoon or early evening. 

PM2.5 Forecast for Beijing - Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Tuesday brings us a chance at better than average air.  As usual, we should see increasing PM2.5 levels overnight with pollution peaking between late morning and noon.  From there we should see decreasing pollution, and Tuesday's weather conditions could drop us as low as Moderate during the afternoon.  Then after sunset, look for increasing PM2.5 levels again. 

PM2.5 Forecast for Beijing - Monday, September 16, 2013

Look for Monday to bring us an average day for air quality in Beijing.  We should see rising PM2.5 levels after midnight, bringing us quickly up into Unhealthy.  The accumulation should peak around late morning or noon, then we should see falling PM2.5 levels for a few hours in the afternoon.  Then, around sunset, we should see the pollution begin to accumulate again. 

PM2.5 Forecast for Beijing - Sunday, September 15, 2013

Saturday's great air quality should continue for part of Sunday, but then we will see increasing PM2.5 levels again.  The pollution could start to increase as early as 6AM, but it is likely that it will really only start to increase noticeably around noon.  From there we should see a slow but steady increase in PM2.5 through the day, moving us into Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups at a minimum by midnight, and likely into Unhealthy by that time. 

PM2.5 Forecast for Beijing - Saturday, September 14, 2013

After Thursday and Friday's poor air quality, Saturday brings some relief to Beijing.  Shortly after midnight, we should see PM2.5 levels begin to drop, and that trend will continue through the morning.  We could see levels at Moderate or Good as early as about 6AM, and we should be seeing Good or Moderate air quality no later than 11AM or noon.  Once the air clears, pollution levels should remain in the same range for the rest of the day. 

PM2.5 Forecast for Beijing - Friday, September 13, 2013

Thursday brought us higher than expected PM2.5 levels with readings at Very Unhealthy for much of the day, and it looks like Friday will bring more of the same.  We should see some gradual lessening of pollution after midnight and through the afternoon, but there is a good chance that we will still be at Very Unhealthy or very close to it.  Then in the evening, PM2.5 levels should start to move up again. 

PM2.5 Forecast for Beijing - Thursday, September 12, 2013

 

We should have a pretty average day for Beijing air quality on Thursday with most of our time being spent in the Unhealthy range.  We should see some slight increases in PM2.5 levels after midnight, but that trend should level off around sunrise.  From there we should see slightly decreasing pollution through the morning and mostly stable pollution levels in the afternoon.  We might drop down into Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups for a while in the afternoon, but it is more likely that we will stay in Unhealthy for the entire day.   

PM2.5 Forecast for Beijing - Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Wednesday's air quality will be no match for the great air we saw on Tuesday, but there is some chance we could see better than average readings.  We should see falling PM2.5 levels as early as midnight, and it's likely our best air of the day will come between about 5AM and noon.  The afternoon should bring us rising pollution levels, likely moving us back up into Unhealthy for the late afternoon and evening. 

PM2.5 Forecast for Beijing - Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Tuesday looks like it will bring us a break from the Unhealthy air of the last few days.  We should see increasing PM2.5 levels just after midnight, but that trend should reverse before sunrise.  Beijing's air quality should be at Good or Moderate by late morning or early afternoon.  We could see some increase in pollution in the late afternoon or early evening, but that should not move the levels up too far. 

PM2.5 Forecast for Beijing - Monday, September 9, 2013

Monday's air quality should be better than Sunday's but not by very much.  Look for increasing PM2.5 in the morning hours, then some clearing in the afternoon.  It's possible we could see a pretty decent clearing, but it's more likely that we just see levels drop to the middle or lower range of Unhealthy.  Then in the evening, pollution levels should climb again. 

PM2.5 Forecast for Beijing - Saturday, September 7, 2013

Look for another roller coaster day for air quality in Beijing.  We should see a decent amount of clearing in the morning hours, likely dropping us below Unhealthy.  Then, in the afternoon and evening, we should see increasing PM2.5 levels again. 

PM2.5 Forecast for Beijing - Friday, September 6, 2013

Friday looks like it will bring us about an average level of pollution - not great air quality, but not too terrible either (by Beijing standards).  We have seen a slight increase in PM2.5 since midnight and that may continue for the next few hours.  Between about 5AM and 10AM, we should see those levels begin to drop some, possibly down into Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups.  The best air quality of the day should come in the late afternoon, then we should see PM2.5 levels increasing again through the evening. 

PM2.5 Forecast for Beijing - Thursday, September 5, 2013

Thursday's weather forecasts look promising for our air quality.  We've seen a substantial drop in pollution since midnight, and that trend should continue through the morning.  We should have our best air during the daylight hours, with the PM2.5 levels increasing in the evening. 

PM2.5 Forecast for Beijing - Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Another quick post for today - we should be back to normal posting tomorrow.  After some clearing in the morning, we have been seeing slowly increasing PM2.5 levels.  That increasing should continue for a couple more hours, but we should see some clearing again in the afternoon hours.  We could drop down into Moderate or Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups, but we should see increasing pollution in the evening hours, most likely bringing us back up to Unhealthy. 

PM2.5 Forecast for Beijing - Monday, September 2, 2013

Just a quick forecast for today.  We have contradictory weather forecasts, with one forecast bringing us Moderate or Good air quality and the other giving us steadily increasing pollution levels.  So, today's air quality could be either in the Good/Moderate range, or it could increase from Unhealthy up into Very Unhealthy.  But based on the accuracy of the two forecasts recently, we think it is a little more likely that we will see clearing skies and air quality that is generally Good or Moderate. 

PM2.5 Forecast for Beijing - Sunday, September 1, 2013

The air quality for Sunday should follow the typical pattern for Beijing in the summer.  We should see slightly increasing PM2.5 levels overnight and through the morning, but we will likely be in the Unhealthy range during that time.  After noon, we should see some decrease in the pollution, possibly dropping as low as Moderate by late afternoon.  Although that range is possible, the most likely levels we will see in the afternoon and evening are the lower range of Unhealthy or the upper range of Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups.