Air Quality in Quebec City, Quebec — Live

Live readings from PurpleAir sensors across Quebec City — with free alerts the moment the air turns.

Live Quebec City AQI from nearby PurpleAir sensors loads when this page opens in a browser, along with a live sensor map covering Quebec City and Lévis, Sainte-Foy, Beauport, Charlesbourg.

Quebec City's air problem is mostly a winter one, and the city says so itself. The Ville de Québec regulates indoor solid-fuel appliances specifically to protect air quality, and states plainly that these appliances are one of the main sources of smog during the winter. When the weather turns cold and still, the city can order every wood stove and fireplace in Quebec City switched off, using its own indicators rather than waiting for a federal alert, and it notes that its notice may go out before Environment Canada has even issued a smog warning. A red banner goes up on the city's website and stays there until the ban is lifted.

Canairy watches the sensors around your home, your kids' school, and everywhere else you care about, and tells you in plain English when the air changes enough to matter.

The city can order the wood stoves off, and it does

The rules are more detailed than most people expect. Every solid-fuel appliance inside a building in Quebec City has to be declared, and adding or removing one must be reported within 90 days. Installing an uncertified appliance is banned outright, and so is installing a certified one that emits more than 2.5 grams of particles per hour, unless it is replacing an uncertified appliance. From 1 September 2026, only appliances certified to EPA or CSA B415.1 standards may be used at all. Uncertified decorative or ambiance wood fireplaces can no longer be installed, and from 1 September 2030 they cannot be lit. The city runs a grant program for scrapping or replacing an old appliance.

On top of the permanent rules there is the episodic one. When atmospheric and meteorological conditions favour a deterioration in air quality, the city issues a temporary ban on using any solid-fuel appliance, with an exception for buildings where wood is the only heat source. Residents can subscribe to email alerts for both the start and the lifting of a ban. This is a citywide decision made from citywide indicators, which is the useful thing to know: on a calm winter evening the smoke does not settle evenly, and the block you live on can be a good deal worse than the number the city is working from.

Limoilou, the port, and the metal in the dust

Vieux-Limoilou sits next to the Port of Québec, where ore is transferred to and from ships, and the neighbourhood and the port together have been identified as having the highest atmospheric concentration of nickel in Canada. On 28 April 2022 Quebec loosened its daily nickel standard from 14 to 70 nanograms per cubic metre, measured in particles under 10 microns, and added an annual norm of 20. Even against the looser limit the monitoring station on des Sables Road recorded 120 nanograms in spring 2023, with the standard exceeded on two further occasions up to 28 April that year.

The city's own testing campaign, run at ten stations in 2022, found Vieux-Limoilou had the worst air quality of the neighbourhoods measured, and named three contributors: exhaust from the nearby highways, smoke from wood stoves and fireplaces, and industrial emissions. Mayor Bruno Marchand called the results reassuring because fine particles in Limoilou exceeded the daily limit only once over a two-month stretch. Raymond Poirier, president of the Vieux-Limoilou neighbourhood council and founder of a citizen monitoring project called Limoilair, answered that one time over the norm is one time too many. Worth being clear about what a low-cost sensor can and cannot do here: PurpleAir measures particle mass, not composition, so it will register a dusty day in Limoilou but cannot tell you there is nickel in it.

Quebec City air quality FAQ

Why is there smoke in Quebec City today?

In winter, the most likely answer is residential wood burning. The Ville de Québec names solid-fuel appliances as one of the main sources of smog in the city during the winter months, and on days when conditions are right for pollution to build it issues a temporary ban on using them, sometimes before Environment Canada posts a smog warning. Check the city's website for a red banner. In summer the answer is usually wildfire smoke blown in from fires elsewhere in Quebec. If you are in Limoilou and the dust is settling on windows and patios rather than hanging in the air, the port is the more likely source.

What is the air quality in Quebec City right now?

This page shows the current AQI for Quebec City, calculated from PurpleAir sensors in and around the city and updated continuously. Coverage here is thinner than in Montreal or Toronto, so the map below is worth a look rather than the headline number alone. If the nearest sensor to you is several kilometres away, treat the figure as the airmass over the city rather than the air on your street, particularly on a still winter night when wood smoke pools at ground level.

Canada reports the AQHI, so why does this page show a different number?

Environment and Climate Change Canada publishes the Air Quality Health Index, a 1 to 10+ scale built from three pollutants measured together: fine particulate matter, ground-level ozone and nitrogen dioxide. PurpleAir sensors measure fine particulate matter only, so an AQHI cannot honestly be calculated from them. This page shows the US EPA AQI instead, which is derived from PM2.5 directly and is what most air quality apps use. It is not an AQHI and Canairy does not present it as one. For the official AQHI for Quebec City, Environment Canada and the provincial air quality monitoring network are the sources.

Can I still use my wood stove in Quebec City?

It depends on the appliance and on the day. All indoor solid-fuel appliances must be declared to the city, and additions or removals reported within 90 days. Uncertified appliances cannot be installed, and from 1 September 2026 only appliances certified to EPA or CSA B415.1 standards may be used. Uncertified decorative wood fireplaces cannot be lit from 1 September 2030. Separately, the city can issue a temporary ban on using any solid-fuel appliance when conditions favour poor air quality, with an exception where wood heat is the building's only heat source. There is a municipal grant for replacing or removing an old appliance.

What AQI level is unhealthy?

Under the US EPA scale, AQI 0–50 is Good and 51–100 is Moderate. From 101 the air is Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups — kids, older adults, and people with asthma or heart conditions — and above 150 it's Unhealthy for everyone. Canairy translates these numbers into a plain-English verdict, like whether to close the windows or move a workout indoors.

Is Canairy free?

Yes. The Canairy app is free to download and includes live air quality for all your saved places, plain-English verdicts, and free push alerts when the air crosses your threshold. A paid plan adds extras like SMS text alerts.

Get Canairy free on Google Play.