Air Quality in Winnipeg, Manitoba — Live

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

Live Winnipeg AQI from nearby PurpleAir sensors loads when this page opens in a browser, along with a live sensor map covering Winnipeg and Headingley, East St. Paul, West St. Paul, Selkirk.

Manitoba's own government describes the province's air as generally good, and outside of a few weeks a year that is accurate. Then came 2025. By the start of August, Winnipeg had logged 306 smoke hours, already past the 304 hours recorded across all of 1961, in a record that Environment and Climate Change Canada has kept since 1953. July alone accounted for 189 of them, the smokiest single month the city has on file, beating the 163 hours set in August 1961. Christy Climenhaga of Environment and Climate Change Canada laid the comparison out directly: the records in Winnipeg go back to 1953, and this year already beats the previous record of 304 hours set in 1961.

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 summer of 2025 broke a record that had stood since 1961

The fire season behind it was the province's worst in about three decades. Manitoba burned more than 1.5 million hectares in 2025 against a long-term average below 400,000. A provincewide state of emergency was declared on 28 May with more than 17,000 people evacuated, and a second one followed in July as fires flared again; by 8 July, 98 fires were burning in the province with 16 of them listed as out of control. Two people died in the fire at Lac du Bonnet.

In Winnipeg the effect was measurable rather than atmospheric. On the worst August days the AQHI read 10+ across Manitoba, PM2.5 peaked in the range of 250 to 260 micrograms per cubic metre and touched about 280 overnight, and IQAir rated Winnipeg at 166, worse at that moment than New Delhi, Toronto or Beijing. Chris Pascoe, an associate professor at the University of Manitoba, offered the comparison that stuck locally: being outside for an hour in that smoke was equivalent to smoking three to four cigarettes.

From August to November, the smoke is often stubble

Manitoba runs a Crop Residue Burning Program from 1 August to 15 November, and the municipalities where a permit is required are exactly the ring of farmland around Winnipeg: Rosser, Headingley, St. François Xavier, Cartier, Macdonald, Ritchot, Taché, Springfield, East St. Paul and West St. Paul. That is not a coincidence. The province is explicit that smoke from burning crop residues affects people's health, road safety and the environment, and the whole point of the program is to keep it from settling over the city.

It works on a daily authorisation. By 11 a.m. each day the province issues a notice saying whether burning is allowed, when it can start, when fires must be out, and whether a permit is needed, and farmers can check it by phone or online. Burning inside Winnipeg's own boundaries needs a special permit from the Fire Prevention Branch in person at 185 King Street. On an autumn evening when the horizon goes brown and it is far too late in the year for a forest fire, this is usually the explanation.

Two provincial monitors for the whole city

Manitoba has five permanent air monitoring stations in total. Two of them are in Winnipeg, at 65 Ellen Street and 299 Scotia Street, with a temporary station at Kavanagh Park; the other three cover Brandon, Flin Flon and Thompson. The equipment is standard across jurisdictions and supplied by Environment and Climate Change Canada, and it reports hourly. Manitoba's own air quality standard for fine particulate matter is 30 micrograms per cubic metre averaged over 24 hours, and its ground-level ozone objective is 65 parts per billion over eight hours.

The province's summary of its own situation is worth reading plainly: Manitoba generally has good air quality, and poorer air tends to occur because of exceptional events such as wildfire smoke, and transboundary pollutants from south of the border or from other provinces, with localised issues such as stubble burning or building fires affecting monitors that happen to be near the fire. That last clause is the useful one. Two downtown-ish monitors will tell you about the airmass over the city. They will not tell you what is happening in St. Vital or Transcona while a field burns upwind, which is what the sensors on the map below are for.

Winnipeg air quality FAQ

Why is there smoke in Winnipeg today?

In summer it is wildfire smoke, usually from fires in northern Manitoba, northwestern Ontario or Saskatchewan, blown in on the prevailing wind rather than burning anywhere near the city. Manitoba's provincial monitoring program names wildfire smoke and transboundary pollution as the main reasons its air quality drops at all. From August into November there is a second possibility: crop residue burning in the farmland ringing the city, which the province authorises day by day. If the sky is hazy in October and no fire is in the news, stubble is the likely answer.

What is the air quality in Winnipeg right now?

This page shows the current AQI for Winnipeg, calculated from PurpleAir sensors across the city and updated continuously. Manitoba operates only two permanent monitors inside Winnipeg, at 65 Ellen Street and 299 Scotia Street, so the map below is worth checking rather than the headline number alone. A field burning upwind or a still evening in one neighbourhood does not show up in a citywide figure.

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 Winnipeg, Environment Canada and the Manitoba Air Quality Program are the sources.

Is farm stubble burning around Winnipeg allowed?

Yes, but it is controlled. Manitoba's Crop Residue Burning Program runs from 1 August to 15 November, and in the ten municipalities surrounding Winnipeg, including Headingley, Springfield, Ritchot, Macdonald, East St. Paul and West St. Paul, a permit is required. The province issues a daily authorisation by 11 a.m. that says whether burning can go ahead, when it can start and when fires must be out, based on how well smoke will disperse that day. Burning within Winnipeg city limits needs a separate permit from the Fire Prevention Branch.

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.