Canada · Quebec · 10 cities
Air quality in Quebec today The AQI right now, city by city
Right now, Sherbrooke has the cleanest air of the 10 cities we track in Quebec (AQI 16, Good), and Longueuil the worst (AQI 20, Good). Saint-Louis-de-Terrebonne has the most tree cover, at 68.1% — #1 of 59 cities measured in Canada.
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 19
Average right now
Good
- cities tracked
- 10
- average tree cover
- 35.7%
- Canada: 33.1%
- worst air now: Longueuil
- 20
- cleanest air now: Sherbrooke
- 16
Lower is better on the US EPA index: 0–50 is Good, above 300 is Hazardous, and it reads differently from Canada's AQHI. Measured by Airleaf, refreshed hourly.
Quebec · average AQI 19
Air quality today across Quebec, city by city
| Montréal | 19Good | 44.4% | — | #8 of 59 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Québec | 17Good | 21.6% | 17.9K | #54 of 59 |
| Laval | 19Good | 31.1% | — | #33 of 59 |
| Longueuil | 20Good | 28.6% | 4.4K | #37 of 59 |
| Saguenay | 19Good | 39.6% | — | #13 of 59 |
| Trois-Rivières | 19Good | 24.7% | 12.3K | #46 of 59 |
| Sherbrooke | 16Good | 40.0% | — | #11 of 59 |
| Saint-Louis-de-Terrebonne | 19Good | 68.1% | — | #1 of 59 |
| Rivière-des-Prairies–Pointe-aux-Trembles | 19Good | 26.3% | 9.8K | #43 of 59 |
| Terrebonne | 19Good | 32.7% | — | #30 of 59 |
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 Canada.
Is this the same as Canada's AQHI?
No. Airleaf shows the US EPA Air Quality Index (AQI), the scale used by IQAir and most air-quality apps. Canada's Air Quality Health Index (AQHI), from Environment and Climate Change Canada, runs from 1 to 10 and above: 1–3 low risk, 4–6 moderate, 7–10 high and over 10 very high. It combines ozone, nitrogen dioxide and fine particles into one health-risk number, so it isn't a converted AQI, and the two can move differently, especially in wildfire smoke.
Deforestation · 2001–2025
How much forest has Quebec lost?
Since 2001, Quebec has lost about 11.7 million hectares of forest (about 120,000 km²): 15% of the forest it had in 2000. Most of it was lost to wildfires, so much of it can grow back. About 112,000 hectares (under 1%) was deforestation: forest cleared for good for farms, mines or towns.
- Forest lost since 2001
- 11.7 million haabout 120,000 km²
- Share of its forest
- 15%of what there was in 2000
- Cleared for good
- 112,000 hadeforestation: turned into farms, mines or towns
Hectares of forest lost each year
Show the figures as a table
| Year | Cleared for good | Can grow back | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | 3,510 ha | 242,000 ha | 246,000 ha |
| 2002 | 4,740 ha | 783,000 ha | 788,000 ha |
| 2003 | 2,570 ha | 306,000 ha | 308,000 ha |
| 2004 | 5,440 ha | 361,000 ha | 367,000 ha |
| 2005 | 6,410 ha | 760,000 ha | 767,000 ha |
| 2006 | 4,000 ha | 349,000 ha | 353,000 ha |
| 2007 | 5,020 ha | 410,000 ha | 415,000 ha |
| 2008 | 3,780 ha | 258,000 ha | 262,000 ha |
| 2009 | 5,910 ha | 261,000 ha | 267,000 ha |
| 2010 | 7,180 ha | 365,000 ha | 373,000 ha |
| 2011 | 3,840 ha | 236,000 ha | 240,000 ha |
| 2012 | 6,610 ha | 269,000 ha | 275,000 ha |
| 2013 | 3,220 ha | 1.1 million ha | 1.1 million ha |
| 2014 | 4,240 ha | 378,000 ha | 382,000 ha |
| 2015 | 3,130 ha | 219,000 ha | 222,000 ha |
| 2016 | 4,800 ha | 284,000 ha | 288,000 ha |
| 2017 | 4,980 ha | 301,000 ha | 306,000 ha |
| 2018 | 4,860 ha | 296,000 ha | 301,000 ha |
| 2019 | 4,100 ha | 259,000 ha | 263,000 ha |
| 2020 | 4,540 ha | 292,000 ha | 297,000 ha |
| 2021 | 3,850 ha | 282,000 ha | 286,000 ha |
| 2022 | 4,090 ha | 257,000 ha | 261,000 ha |
| 2023 | 3,190 ha | 2.48 million ha | 2.49 million ha |
| 2024 | 3,130 ha | 431,000 ha | 434,000 ha |
| 2025 | 5,200 ha | 376,000 ha | 381,000 ha |
Forest loss is speeding up: about 769,000 hectares a year in 2021–2025, up from 291,000 hectares a year in 2016–2020. The worst year was 2023, when about 2.49 million hectares of forest were lost, mostly to wildfires.
What is causing deforestation in Quebec?
- Wildfirescan grow back53% · 6.14 million ha
- Loggingcan grow back43% · 5.05 million ha
- Storms, floods and other natural causescan grow back1.7% · 203,000 ha
Also: towns and roads, farms, pasture and plantations, mining and energy, 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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