City report · Mpumalanga, South Africa
eMbalenhle Air quality today
Air quality in eMbalenhle currently reads AQI 58 (Moderate): Unusually sensitive people should consider limiting long outdoor exertion.
AQI 58
Air quality right now
Moderate
- PM2.5, fine particles (µg/m³)
- 10.8
- tree cover
- 1.1%
- trees in this area
- 3.5K
- more trees needed
- 90.7K
Measured across a 2 km radius around Embalenhle, 2285, South Africa (12.57 km²), from a satellite image of Sep 22, 2026. Lower AQI is better: 0–50 is Good, above 300 is Hazardous.
eMbalenhle · AQI 58 (Moderate)
eMbalenhle's tree count comes to 3,452 trees across 12.56 km² of land, 29 points below the 30% tree-cover level considered healthy for this area, so roughly 90,701 more trees would close the gap.
Air quality detail
Air quality in eMbalenhle today: AQI 58, Moderate
Main pollutant: Ozone · Observed Nov 11, 18:00 local time via OpenAQ ground stations, US EPA index. Values in µg/m³.
Ground station · eMbalenhle North, 700 m away · median of 3 stations
Health signal
Unusually sensitive people should consider limiting long outdoor exertion.
PM2.5
10.8
PM10
27.5
NO₂
15.1
O₃
112.1
SO₂
5.3
CO
420.4
Data: OpenAQ · South Africa, South African Air Quality Information System (SAAQIS)
- Outdoor exercise
- Fine for most people; unusually sensitive people should take long or hard exercise easier
- Windows
- Fine to open; close them if you are sensitive to pollution
- Mask
- Not needed for most people
- Air purifier
- Worth running if you are sensitive
Over the last 7 days, the CAMS air-quality model put eMbalenhle's daily AQI at 66 on average, from 31 on Nov 8 to an hourly peak of 138 on Nov 11.
Where eMbalenhle stands: the most polluted cities in the world right now · the cleanest
Tree cover detail
Tree cover in eMbalenhle: Critically low
1.1% tree cover against a 30% healthy-neighborhood target, across 12.56 km² of land.
Trees in this area
3,452
Target trees
94,153
More trees needed
90,701
CO₂ if planted / yr
1,995 t
Deforestation · 2001–2025
How much forest has eMbalenhle lost?
There was almost no forest around eMbalenhle in 2000, so there has been almost nothing to lose since. Only fairly dense woodland counts as forest in these maps, so scattered street and garden trees don't show up here.
2017: satellite photo from August 2017 of a 5 × 5 km area in the city center.
These figures cover everything within 10 km of the city center, a wider area than the report above, because forest is usually lost at a city's edges.
Source: Hansen/UMD/Google/USGS/NASA, Global Forest Change (GFC-2025-v1.13); causes: WRI/Google DeepMind drivers of forest loss; both CC BY 4.0, summed by Airleaf for each area. Images: contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data. How it's measured
In the same region
Measured cities near eMbalenhle
Same 2 km radius, same index — so they compare directly.
- Standerton47.8 km
South Africa
- Tree cover
- 11%
- Air quality
- 67
- Nigel59.8 km
South Africa
- Tree cover
- 14%
- Air quality
- 66
- Emalahleni75.5 km
South Africa
- Tree cover
- 22%
- Air quality
- 88
- Etwatwa76.0 km
South Africa
- Tree cover
- 2%
- Air quality
- 53
- Benoni83.6 km
South Africa
- Tree cover
- 13%
- Air quality
- 81
- Ermelo91.2 km
South Africa
- Tree cover
- 16%
- Air quality
- 43
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Frequently asked
Questions about eMbalenhle
What is the air quality (AQI) in eMbalenhle right now?
The latest reading for eMbalenhle shows an AQI of 58 (Moderate), measured Nov 11, 18:00 local time by 3 ground monitoring stations via OpenAQ (the median of their readings; the nearest is eMbalenhle North, 700 m away). The main pollutant is Ozone. Unusually sensitive people should consider limiting long outdoor exertion.
Is it safe to exercise outside in eMbalenhle today?
At AQI 58 (Moderate): fine for most people; unusually sensitive people should take long or hard exercise easier. Windows: fine to open; close them if you are sensitive to pollution. Masks: not needed for most people. The reading changes through the day, so check again before a long run or ride.
What has the air quality in eMbalenhle been like this week?
Over the last 7 days, the CAMS air-quality model put eMbalenhle's daily AQI at 66 on average, from 31 on Nov 8 to an hourly peak of 138 on Nov 11. On 1 of those days the average was above 100, unhealthy for sensitive groups.
How much forest has the area around eMbalenhle lost since 2001?
There was almost no forest around eMbalenhle in 2000, so there has been almost nothing to lose since. Only fairly dense woodland counts as forest in these maps, so scattered street and garden trees don't show up here.
What is the tree count in eMbalenhle?
eMbalenhle has an estimated 3,452 trees across the 12.56 km² of land measured — 1.1% tree cover, 29 percentage points short of the 30% tree-cover target set for this area.
How many more trees does eMbalenhle need?
eMbalenhle needs roughly 90,701 more trees to close a 29-point shortfall against its 30% tree-cover target — about 1,995 t of extra CO₂ absorbed per year once grown.
How are eMbalenhle's air quality and tree cover measured?
Air quality is measured by ground monitoring stations near Embalenhle, via OpenAQ; the 7-day trend is the Open-Meteo / CAMS model's estimate. Tree cover is measured from Sentinel-2 L2A (ESA Copernicus) via Earth Search satellite imagery at 10 m detail across a 2 km radius around Embalenhle; the tree count is an estimate derived from that cover.
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