City report · Free State, South Africa
Welkom Air quality today
Air quality in Welkom currently reads AQI 21 (Good): Air quality is satisfactory for everyone.
AQI 21
Air quality right now
Good
- PM2.5, fine particles (µg/m³)
- 2.6
- tree cover
- 28.5%
- trees in this area
- 89.5K
- more trees needed
- 4.7K
Measured across a 2 km radius around Welkom Central, Welkom, 9459, South Africa (12.57 km²), from a satellite image of Sep 25, 2026. Lower AQI is better: 0–50 is Good, above 300 is Hazardous.
Welkom · AQI 21 (Good)
Welkom's tree count comes to 89,535 trees across 12.57 km², 2 points below the 30% tree-cover level considered healthy for this area, so roughly 4,712 more trees would close the gap.
Air quality detail
Air quality in Welkom today: AQI 21, Good
Main pollutant: PM2.5 · Observed Nov 11, 11:00 local time via Open-Meteo / CAMS, corrected with 12 ground-station cities within 245 km, US EPA index. Values in µg/m³.
Estimate · model corrected with 12 station cities within 245 km, e.g. Potchefstroom and Maseru
Health signal
Air quality is satisfactory for everyone.
PM2.5
2.6
PM10
5.7
NO₂
1.1
O₃
118.0
SO₂
3.9
CO
139.0
- 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 Welkom's daily AQI at 42 on average, from 20 on Nov 7 to an hourly peak of 74 on Nov 11.
Where Welkom stands: the most polluted cities in the world right now · the cleanest
Tree cover detail
Tree cover in Welkom: Below target
28.5% tree cover against a 30% healthy-neighborhood target, across 12.57 km².
Trees in this area
89,535
Target trees
94,247
More trees needed
4,712
CO₂ if planted / yr
103.7 t
Deforestation · 2001–2025
How much forest has Welkom lost?
There was very little forest around Welkom in 2000, about 31 hectares, and about 8 hectares of it has been lost 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.
The worst year was 2001, when about 4 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 | 3 ha | 1 ha | 4 ha |
| 2002 | under 1 ha | under 1 ha | under 1 ha |
| 2003 | under 1 ha | under 1 ha | under 1 ha |
| 2004 | under 1 ha | under 1 ha | under 1 ha |
| 2005 | under 1 ha | under 1 ha | under 1 ha |
| 2006 | under 1 ha | under 1 ha | under 1 ha |
| 2007 | 1 ha | under 1 ha | 1 ha |
| 2008 | under 1 ha | under 1 ha | under 1 ha |
| 2009 | under 1 ha | under 1 ha | under 1 ha |
| 2010 | under 1 ha | under 1 ha | under 1 ha |
| 2011 | under 1 ha | under 1 ha | under 1 ha |
| 2012 | under 1 ha | under 1 ha | under 1 ha |
| 2013 | under 1 ha | under 1 ha | under 1 ha |
| 2014 | under 1 ha | under 1 ha | under 1 ha |
| 2015 | under 1 ha | under 1 ha | under 1 ha |
| 2016 | under 1 ha | under 1 ha | under 1 ha |
| 2017 | under 1 ha | under 1 ha | under 1 ha |
| 2018 | under 1 ha | under 1 ha | under 1 ha |
| 2019 | under 1 ha | under 1 ha | under 1 ha |
| 2020 | under 1 ha | under 1 ha | under 1 ha |
| 2021 | under 1 ha | under 1 ha | under 1 ha |
| 2022 | under 1 ha | under 1 ha | under 1 ha |
| 2023 | under 1 ha | under 1 ha | under 1 ha |
| 2024 | under 1 ha | under 1 ha | under 1 ha |
| 2025 | under 1 ha | under 1 ha | under 1 ha |
What is causing deforestation around Welkom?
- Farms, pasture and plantationscleared for good40% · 3 ha
- Mining and energycleared for good27% · 2 ha
- Towns and roadscleared for good3.7% · under 1 ha
Also: 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
- 179 ha
- Forest in 2020
- 198 ha
- Overall change
- +19 hamore forest than in 2000
Comparing satellite maps from 2000 and 2020, the forest around Welkom grew from about 179 hectares to 198 hectares, a net gain of about 19 hectares (+11%). New forest grew on about 25 hectares, while 6 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
In the same region
Measured cities near Welkom
Same 2 km radius, same index — so they compare directly.
- Virginia19.0 km
South Africa
- Tree cover
- 33%
- Air quality
- 49
- Kroonstad61.1 km
South Africa
- Tree cover
- 33%
- Air quality
- 16
- Orkney111.1 km
South Africa
- Tree cover
- 32%
- Air quality
- 21
- Klerksdorp125.3 km
South Africa
- Tree cover
- 36%
- Air quality
- 30
- Bloemfontein137.0 km
South Africa
- Tree cover
- 18%
- Air quality
- 39
- Botshabelo143.4 km
South Africa
- Tree cover
- 6%
- Air quality
- 31
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Frequently asked
Questions about Welkom
What is the air quality (AQI) in Welkom right now?
The latest reading for Welkom shows an AQI of 21 (Good), observed Nov 11, 11:00 local time via Open-Meteo / CAMS, corrected with 12 ground-station cities within 245 km, US EPA index. The main pollutant is PM2.5. Air quality is satisfactory for everyone.
Is it safe to exercise outside in Welkom today?
At AQI 21 (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 Welkom been like this week?
Over the last 7 days, the CAMS air-quality model put Welkom's daily AQI at 42 on average, from 20 on Nov 7 to an hourly peak of 74 on Nov 11. No day averaged above 100, the level where the air turns unhealthy for sensitive groups.
How much forest has the area around Welkom lost since 2001?
There was very little forest around Welkom in 2000, about 31 hectares, and about 8 hectares of it has been lost since. Only fairly dense woodland counts as forest in these maps, so scattered street and garden trees don't show up here. Comparing satellite maps from 2000 and 2020, the forest around Welkom grew from about 179 hectares to 198 hectares, a net gain of about 19 hectares (+11%). New forest grew on about 25 hectares, while 6 hectares were lost.
What is the tree count in Welkom?
Welkom has an estimated 89,535 trees across the 12.57 km² measured — 28.5% tree cover, 2 percentage points short of the 30% tree-cover target set for this area.
How many more trees does Welkom need?
Welkom needs roughly 4,712 more trees to close a 2-point shortfall against its 30% tree-cover target — about 103.7 t of extra CO₂ absorbed per year once grown.
How are Welkom's air quality and tree cover measured?
Air quality comes from ground monitoring stations via OpenAQ where one reports nearby, and otherwise, as here, from the Open-Meteo / CAMS model, which may differ from street-level monitors. 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 Welkom Central; the tree count is an estimate derived from that cover.
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