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Air quality now: Kota Bharu

Malaysia · Kelantan · 4 cities

Air quality in Kelantan today The AQI right now, city by city

Right now, Kuala Krai has the cleanest air of the 4 cities we track in Kelantan (AQI 15, Good), and Pasir Mas the worst (AQI 62, Moderate). Kuala Krai has the most tree cover, at 69.1% — #7 of 56 cities measured in Malaysia.

Every city is measured the same way, over the same 2 km around its center: the air quality right now, from ground stations where there are any, and its tree cover.

AQI 43

Average right now

Good

US EPA index, across 4 cities
cities tracked
4
average tree cover
42.8%
Malaysia: 38.7%
worst air now: Pasir Mas
62
cleanest air now: Kuala Krai
15

Lower is better on the US EPA index: 0–50 is Good, above 300 is Hazardous, and it reads differently from Malaysia's API (IPU). Measured by Airleaf, refreshed hourly.

Kelantan · average AQI 43

Air quality today across Kelantan, city by city

Current air quality and tree cover for cities in Kelantan, Malaysia
Kota Bharu62Moderate20.1%29.3K#52 of 56
Pasir Mas62Moderate37.5%—#29 of 56
Pasir Puteh31Good44.4%—#18 of 56
Kuala Krai15Good69.1%—#7 of 56

Air quality is the US AQI from ground monitoring stations via OpenAQ where available, otherwise the Open-Meteo / CAMS model, refreshed hourly. Tree cover is measured within 2 km of each city center from Sentinel-2 imagery; the rank compares every city measured in Malaysia.

Is this the same as Malaysia's API (IPU)?

No. Airleaf shows the US EPA Air Quality Index (AQI), the scale used by IQAir and most air-quality apps. Malaysia's Department of Environment (Jabatan Alam Sekitar) publishes its own Air Pollutant Index, the API or Indeks Pencemar Udara (IPU), every hour for each of its monitoring stations on APIMS (apims.doe.gov.my). Both scales call 0–50 good and 51–100 moderate; above that the IPU runs 101–200 unhealthy, 201–300 very unhealthy and over 300 hazardous. The two use different breakpoints and averaging times, so the numbers for the same hour often differ. For the official IPU reading, check the nearest station on APIMS.

Malaysia's API (IPU) and the AQI, explained

Deforestation · 2001–2025

How much forest has Kelantan lost?

Since 2001, Kelantan has lost about 513,000 hectares of forest (about 5,100 km²): 38% of the forest it had in 2000. Most of it (78%) was deforestation, forest cleared for good, mainly for farms, pasture and plantations.

Forest lost since 2001
513,000 haabout 5,100 km²
Share of its forest
38%of what there was in 2000
Cleared for good
400,000 hadeforestation: turned into farms, mines or towns
Forest lost each year in Kelantan, 2001–2025

Hectares of forest lost each year

Forest lost each year in Kelantan, 2001–2025. Use the left and right arrow keys to read each year.38.8K

Show the figures as a table
Forest lost each year in Kelantan, 2001–2025
YearCleared for goodCan grow backTotal
20019,400 ha1,210 ha10,600 ha
20028,430 ha704 ha9,140 ha
20035,160 ha445 ha5,600 ha
200413,200 ha591 ha13,800 ha
200511,700 ha871 ha12,600 ha
200610,100 ha1,360 ha11,500 ha
200721,800 ha3,430 ha25,200 ha
200811,500 ha1,220 ha12,700 ha
200929,000 ha4,230 ha33,200 ha
201027,400 ha3,340 ha30,800 ha
201120,400 ha2,600 ha23,000 ha
201229,500 ha5,740 ha35,300 ha
201314,300 ha2,380 ha16,700 ha
201432,900 ha5,910 ha38,800 ha
201519,000 ha5,370 ha24,400 ha
201619,400 ha7,680 ha27,100 ha
201714,700 ha5,960 ha20,600 ha
201814,400 ha9,160 ha23,600 ha
201915,000 ha11,900 ha26,900 ha
20209,910 ha5,840 ha15,800 ha
202112,500 ha6,230 ha18,700 ha
202210,800 ha6,250 ha17,000 ha
202314,800 ha7,730 ha22,500 ha
202413,500 ha6,420 ha19,900 ha
202511,100 ha6,460 ha17,600 ha

Forest loss has stayed about the same: about 19,200 hectares a year in 2021–2025, against 22,800 hectares a year in 2016–2020. The worst year was 2014, when about 38,800 hectares of forest were lost.

What is causing deforestation in Kelantan?

  • Farms, pasture and plantationscleared for good74% · 381,000 ha
  • Loggingcan grow back20% · 103,000 ha
  • Mining and energycleared for good2.2% · 11,400 ha

Also: shifting farming, towns and roads, storms, floods and other natural causes, wildfires, unknown causes.

Causes for 2025 are estimates, based on what caused forest loss in the same places up to 2024.

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. How it's measured

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