Air quality comparison · Morocco, 53 km apart
Fes vs Meknes Air quality index (AQI) today
Meknes has cleaner air than Fes right now: AQI 35 (Good) against 82 (Moderate).
That puts them in different EPA bands, so the health advice differs today. Over the past 6 days, on modeled daily averages, Meknes averaged AQI 41 against 46, and it was the cleaner of the two on 6 of those days. Meknes has lost more forest since 2001. Meknes has more tree cover.
Updated . Lower is better on the US EPA index: 0–50 is Good, above 300 is Hazardous. Measured by Airleaf.
Fes82Meknes35
Head to head
Fes vs Meknes at a glance
Meknes is ahead on 5 of 6 measures, and Fes on 1. The better figure in each row is marked.
| Fes | Meknes | |
|---|---|---|
| Air quality nowUS AQI. Lower is better. | 82 | 35 (better) |
| PM2.5Fine particles, µg/m³. | 23.8 | 7.2 (better) |
| Past week's averageUS AQI, 6 days. | 46 | 41 (better) |
| Forest lost since 2001Within 10 km of the center. | 2 ha (better) | 34 ha |
| Tree coverWithin 2 km of the center. | 8.9% | 11.1% (better) |
| Trees still neededTo reach a healthy canopy. | 66.3K | 59.3K (better) |
Air quality today
What is the air like in Fes and Meknes right now?
Meknes has cleaner air than Fes right now: AQI 35 (Good) against 82 (Moderate). PM2.5 is setting the index in both.
Fes's PM2.5 is about 1.6× the WHO's 24-hour guideline of 15 µg/m³.
Both readings are model estimates, with no ground station close enough to either.
FesMeknes
Concentrations at the same moment as the index above, for the pollutants both places report. Lower is better. The dark marks on the PM2.5 and PM10 rows show the WHO's 24-hour guidelines (15 and 45 µg/m³).
Fes: Estimate · model corrected with 3 station cities within 245 km, e.g. Nador and Gibraltar. Data: Open-Meteo / CAMS, corrected with 3 ground-station cities within 245 km, US EPA index.
Meknes: Model estimate · no ground station nearby. Data: Open-Meteo / CAMS, US EPA index.
The past week
Which had cleaner air over the past 6 days?
Over the past 6 days, on modeled daily averages, Meknes averaged AQI 41 against 46, and it was the cleaner of the two on 6 of those days. A single reading can catch a city on a bad afternoon; the week says whether it was the weather or the place.
- Cleaner days
- Fes0Meknes6
- Average AQI
- Fes46Meknes41
- Worst day, AQI
- Fes54Meknes51
The daily numbers (6 days)
| Day | Fes | Meknes |
|---|---|---|
| Nov 5 | 50 | 41 |
| Nov 6 | 54 | 48 |
| Nov 7 | 54 | 51 |
| Nov 8 | 42 | 39 |
| Nov 9 | 39 | 32 |
| Nov 10 | 39 | 35 |
Daily averages from the CAMS atmospheric model for both places, so the week compares like with like. They can differ from today's reading at the top of the page wherever that comes from a ground station.
What it means today
Is it safe to go outside in Fes and Meknes today?
Fes (AQI 82, Moderate): Unusually sensitive people should consider limiting long outdoor exertion.
Meknes (AQI 35, Good): Air quality is satisfactory for everyone.
Exercise outdoors
- Fes
- Fine for most people; unusually sensitive people should take long or hard exercise easier.
- Meknes
- A good day to be active outside.
Windows
- Fes
- Fine to open; close them if you are sensitive to pollution.
- Meknes
- Open them to air the house.
Masks
- Fes
- Not needed for most people.
- Meknes
- Not needed.
Air purifier
- Fes
- Worth running if you are sensitive.
- Meknes
- Not needed.
Against everywhere else
How do Fes and Meknes compare with the rest of the world?
Right now Fes's air is cleaner than 29% of the 5,420 places Airleaf tracks, and Meknes's is cleaner than 74%. Within Morocco, that is 0% and 75% of its 37 measured places.
Cleaner air than…
- Fes
- Beats 29%
- Meknes
- Beats 74%
More tree cover than…
- Fes
- Beats 18%
- Meknes
- Beats 24%
Includes model estimates as well as station readings, so it can differ from our most polluted and cleanest air rankings, which use station readings only.
Deforestation · 2001–2025
Which has lost more forest, Fes or Meknes?
Meknes has lost more: about 34 ha of forest within 10 km of its center from 2001 to 2025, against 2 ha around Fes. 33 ha of that was cleared for good, for farms, mines or towns.
Measured within 10 km of each center, from the yearly satellite maps of forest loss: a wider circle than the one for tree cover, because forest is usually lost at a city's edges.
Worst year: 2009, with under 1 ha lost.
Worst year: 2024, with 16 ha lost.
| Fes | Meknes | |
|---|---|---|
| Forest lost since 2001Cleared, burned or logged. | 2 ha (better) | 34 ha |
| Cleared for goodTurned into farms, mines or towns. | under 1 ha (better) | 33 ha |
| Recent trend2021–2025 against the five years before. | Too little to call | Too little to call |
| Main known cause | Towns and roads (29%) | Farms, pasture and plantations (94%) |
Satellite timelapses
Watch both change, year by year
A clear satellite photo a year of the land around each city. Press play, turn on the forest cleared since the first year, or drag the before and after.
Fes
2017: satellite photo from August 2017 of a 5 × 5 km area in the city center.
Meknes
2017: satellite photo from August 2017 of a 5 × 5 km area in the city center.
Trees
Which has more trees, Fes or Meknes?
Meknes has more tree cover: 11.1% of the land within 2 km of its center against 8.9% around Fes, or about 34,837 trees against 27,960.
The dark mark is each place's canopy target: 30% of the land, raised where air quality is poor.
| Fes | Meknes | |
|---|---|---|
| Trees standingEstimated from the canopy area. | 28.0K | 34.8K (better) |
| Trees still neededTo reach the target. Fewer is better. | 66.3K | 59.3K (better) |
| CO₂ absorbed each yearBy the trees already standing. | 615K kg | 766K kg (better) |
Tree cover on the satellite image
The same 2 km radius around each center, with the tree cover the satellite found marked on it.
Reading these numbers
How this comparison is made
Air quality index
The US EPA index, computed from current pollutant concentrations: ground stations where a place has them nearby, and the CAMS atmospheric model everywhere else. It moves hour to hour, so it is a snapshot rather than a verdict on either place. The guideline marks are from the WHO's 2021 air quality guidelines.
Trees and forest
Tree cover is the share of ground under canopy within 2 km of each center, read from Sentinel-2 satellite imagery at 10 m detail. It measures that circle, not the whole municipality, which is what makes the two comparable. Forest loss comes from the University of Maryland's Global Forest Change maps.
More on the method on the About Airleaf page.
Frequently asked
Fes vs Meknes: your questions answered
Is Meknes cleaner than Fes?
On air quality, yes, right now: Meknes reads AQI 35 against 82, a gap of 47 points on the US EPA index. This is a live reading rather than an annual average, so it can reverse within a day. Over the past 6 days, on modeled daily averages, Meknes averaged AQI 41 against 46, and it was the cleaner of the two on 6 of those days.
Is it safe to exercise outdoors in Fes and Meknes today?
In Fes, at AQI 82: Unusually sensitive people should consider limiting long outdoor exertion. In Meknes, at AQI 35: Air quality is satisfactory for everyone.
Which has lost more forest, Fes or Meknes?
Meknes has lost more: about 34 ha of forest within 10 km of its center from 2001 to 2025, against 2 ha around Fes. 33 ha of that was cleared for good, for farms, mines or towns.
Which has more trees, Fes or Meknes?
Meknes has more tree cover: 11.1% of the land within 2 km of its center against 8.9% around Fes, or about 34,837 trees against 27,960. Both figures describe the same-sized circle of ground around each center, not the whole municipality.
How many more trees do Fes and Meknes need?
Fes needs about 66,288 more to reach its canopy target of 30%, and Meknes about 59,317 to reach 30%. The target starts at 30% of the land and rises where air quality is poor.
Why can two places 53 km apart read differently?
Air changes over short distances with traffic, industry, wind and hills, and each reading comes from the nearest ground stations or, where there are none, from a regional model. A gap of a few points between neighbors is within normal variation, while a gap that crosses an EPA band is worth noticing.
Are Fes and Meknes measured the same way?
The method is the same: the US EPA index for air, and Sentinel-2 satellite imagery at 10 m detail over an identical radius for trees. Both readings are model estimates, with no ground station close enough to either. Nothing is adjusted for population, city limits or climate.
How often does the Fes vs Meknes comparison update?
The air readings refresh about once an hour, and each reading's local time is shown at the top of the page. Tree cover comes from the latest clear satellite image of each area (Sep 19, 2026 and Sep 24, 2026), and the forest figures are published yearly.
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