City report · British Columbia, Canada
Saanich Air quality today
Air quality in Saanich currently reads AQI 43 (Good): Air quality is satisfactory for everyone.
Air quality right now
AQI 43
Good
- PM2.5, fine particles (µg/m³)
- 7.7
- tree cover
- 46.7%
- trees in this area
- 147K
- more trees needed
- 0
Measured across a 2 km radius around Saanich, British Columbia, Canada (12.57 km²), from a satellite image of Sep 6, 2026. Lower AQI is better: 0–50 is Good, above 300 is Hazardous.
Saanich · AQI 43 (Good)
Saanich's tree count comes to 146,712 trees across 12.57 km², already at or above the 30% tree-cover level considered healthy for this area.
Air quality detail
Air quality in Saanich today: AQI 43, Good
Main pollutant: PM2.5 · Observed Nov 11, 08:00 local time via OpenAQ ground stations, US EPA index. Values in µg/m³.
Ground station · Claremont, 3.6 km away · median of 6 stations
Health signal
Air quality is satisfactory for everyone.
PM2.5
7.7
PM10
—
NO₂
5.6
O₃
41.2
SO₂
0.0
CO
0.0
Data: OpenAQ · AirGradient, AirNow, Brett, Mellor Park, Glenlyon Norfolk School
- Outdoor exercise
- A good day to be active outside
- Windows
- Open them to air the house
- Mask
- Not needed
- Air purifier
- Not needed
Over the last 7 days, the CAMS air-quality model put Saanich's daily AQI at 38 on average, from 25 on Nov 5 to an hourly peak of 76 on Nov 4.
This is the US EPA AQI. How it differs from Canada's AQHI
Where Saanich stands: the most polluted cities in the world right now · the cleanest
Tree cover detail
Tree cover in Saanich: Healthy tree cover
46.7% tree cover against a 30% healthy-neighborhood target, across 12.57 km².
Trees in this area
146,712
Target trees
146,712
More trees needed
0
CO₂ if planted / yr
0 kg
Deforestation · 2001–2025
How much forest has Saanich lost?
Since 2001, the area within 10 km of Saanich has lost about 472 hectares of forest (about 660 football pitches): 4.8% of the forest it had in 2000. Most of it (95%) was deforestation, forest cleared for good, mainly for towns and roads.
2017: satellite photo from August 2017 of a 5 × 5 km area about 7 km west of the city center.
- Forest lost since 2001
- 472 haabout 660 football pitches
- Share of its forest
- 4.8%of what there was in 2000
- Cleared for good
- 450 hadeforestation: turned into farms, mines or towns
The worst year was 2016, when about 41 hectares of forest were lost.
Hectares of forest lost each year
Show the figures as a table
| Year | Cleared for good | Can grow back | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | 7 ha | under 1 ha | 8 ha |
| 2002 | 20 ha | under 1 ha | 20 ha |
| 2003 | 22 ha | 1 ha | 24 ha |
| 2004 | 36 ha | 2 ha | 37 ha |
| 2005 | 26 ha | 2 ha | 28 ha |
| 2006 | 37 ha | under 1 ha | 38 ha |
| 2007 | 20 ha | under 1 ha | 21 ha |
| 2008 | 18 ha | under 1 ha | 18 ha |
| 2009 | 8 ha | under 1 ha | 8 ha |
| 2010 | 10 ha | under 1 ha | 11 ha |
| 2011 | 3 ha | under 1 ha | 3 ha |
| 2012 | 18 ha | under 1 ha | 19 ha |
| 2013 | 5 ha | under 1 ha | 5 ha |
| 2014 | 15 ha | under 1 ha | 16 ha |
| 2015 | 13 ha | 2 ha | 14 ha |
| 2016 | 37 ha | 4 ha | 41 ha |
| 2017 | 31 ha | under 1 ha | 32 ha |
| 2018 | 9 ha | under 1 ha | 9 ha |
| 2019 | 16 ha | under 1 ha | 17 ha |
| 2020 | 12 ha | under 1 ha | 12 ha |
| 2021 | 30 ha | under 1 ha | 30 ha |
| 2022 | 24 ha | 2 ha | 26 ha |
| 2023 | 10 ha | under 1 ha | 10 ha |
| 2024 | 15 ha | 1 ha | 16 ha |
| 2025 | 6 ha | 2 ha | 8 ha |
What is causing deforestation around Saanich?
- Towns and roadscleared for good79% · 372 ha
- Mining and energycleared for good8.7% · 41 ha
- Farms, pasture and plantationscleared for good7.8% · 37 ha
Also: logging, storms, floods and other natural causes, unknown causes.
Causes for 2025 are estimates, based on what caused forest loss in the same places up to 2024.
Forest gained and lost, 2000–2020
- Forest in 2000
- 14,300 ha
- Forest in 2020
- 14,200 ha
- Overall change
- −93 haless forest than in 2000
Comparing satellite maps from 2000 and 2020, the forest around Saanich stayed about the same size, at about 14,200 hectares: new forest grew on about 173 hectares, and about 267 hectares were lost.
These 2000 and 2020 maps, from the University of Maryland, count any land with trees taller than 5 m as forest, including plantations and orchards. Forest that was cut or burned and had grown back by 2020 counts in both years, so the loss here is smaller than the yearly figures.
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. Forest gained and lost 2000–2020: Potapov et al. 2022, UMD GLAD Global Land Cover and Land Use Change, CC BY 4.0. Images: contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data. How it's measured
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Frequently asked
Questions about Saanich
What is the air quality (AQI) in Saanich right now?
The latest reading for Saanich shows an AQI of 43 (Good), measured Nov 11, 08:00 local time by 6 ground monitoring stations via OpenAQ (the median of their readings; the nearest is Claremont, 3.6 km away). The main pollutant is PM2.5. Air quality is satisfactory for everyone.
Is it safe to exercise outside in Saanich today?
At AQI 43 (Good): a good day to be active outside. Windows: open them to air the house. Masks: not needed. The reading changes through the day, so check again before a long run or ride.
What has the air quality in Saanich been like this week?
Over the last 7 days, the CAMS air-quality model put Saanich's daily AQI at 38 on average, from 25 on Nov 5 to an hourly peak of 76 on Nov 4. No day averaged above 100, the level where the air turns unhealthy for sensitive groups.
Is Saanich's AQI 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.
How much forest has the area around Saanich lost since 2001?
Since 2001, the area within 10 km of Saanich has lost about 472 hectares of forest (about 660 football pitches): 4.8% of the forest it had in 2000. Most of it (95%) was deforestation, forest cleared for good, mainly for towns and roads. Comparing satellite maps from 2000 and 2020, the forest around Saanich stayed about the same size, at about 14,200 hectares: new forest grew on about 173 hectares, and about 267 hectares were lost.
What is the tree count in Saanich?
Saanich has an estimated 146,712 trees across the 12.57 km² measured — 46.7% tree cover, already past the 30% tree-cover target set for this area.
How many more trees does Saanich need?
Saanich has already reached its tree-cover target, so no additional trees are needed to close the gap.
How are Saanich's air quality and tree cover measured?
Air quality is measured by ground monitoring stations near Saanich, 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 Saanich; the tree count is an estimate derived from that cover.
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