A clearer day near Ontario

Find your patch of clear sky.

Start at your exact spot, then compare cleaner air and kinder weather within three hours.

Your way out of the haze

Pin your block, switch on rain or temperature, then tap a town to trace the trip.

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Ottawa (you are here) Good Moderate Unhealthy (sensitive) Unhealthy+

Whitney

#1

~3 h 35 min driveOntarioAQI 74 / Moderate· PM2.5 3.8 µg/m³

≈ 0.1 vs 0.7 🚬 at homesave 0.6

▼ 25.2 µg/m³ less fine-particle pollution than Ottawa right now

Observed Jul 18, 3:00 p.m. EDT

Hamlet at Algonquin Park’s East Gate, with lodges and cabins on the park’s quieter side.

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Bancroft

#2

~3 h 15 min driveOntarioAQI 77 / Moderate· PM2.5 5.8 µg/m³

≈ 0.1 vs 0.7 🚬 at homesave 0.5

▼ 23.2 µg/m³ less fine-particle pollution than Ottawa right now

Observed Jul 18, 3:00 p.m. EDT

Mineral-country town on the York River between Hastings highlands and lake country.

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Pembroke

#3

~2 h driveOntarioAQI 66 / Moderate· PM2.5 9 µg/m³

≈ 0.2 vs 0.7 🚬 at homesave 0.5

▼ 20 µg/m³ less fine-particle pollution than Ottawa right now

Observed Jul 18, 3:00 p.m. EDT

Ottawa Valley hub on the wide Ottawa River, the jumping-off point for Whitewater country.

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Prince Edward County

#4

~3 h 25 min driveOntarioAQI 68 / Moderate· PM2.5 9.8 µg/m³

≈ 0.2 vs 0.7 🚬 at homesave 0.4

▼ 19.2 µg/m³ less fine-particle pollution than Ottawa right now

AQHI 5 — Moderate risk (Belleville station)

Observed Jul 18, 3:00 p.m. EDT

Island county of beaches, wineries and small hotels, surrounded on all sides by Lake Ontario air.

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Kingston

#5

~2 h 15 min driveOntarioAQI 65 / Moderate· PM2.5 17.6 µg/m³

≈ 0.4 vs 0.7 🚬 at homesave 0.3

▼ 11.4 µg/m³ less fine-particle pollution than Ottawa right now

AQHI 9 — High risk (Kingston station)

Observed Jul 18, 3:00 p.m. EDT

A major Ontario city with broad lodging options and live air-quality readings for comparison when smoke shifts across the region.

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Perth

#6

~1 h 15 min driveOntarioAQI 67 / Moderate· PM2.5 18.5 µg/m³

≈ 0.4 vs 0.7 🚬 at homesave 0.2

▼ 10.5 µg/m³ less fine-particle pollution than Ottawa right now

Observed Jul 18, 3:00 p.m. EDT

Stone-built heritage town on the Tay River, a calm base in the Rideau corridor.

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Westport

#7

~1 h 45 min driveOntarioAQI 67 / Moderate· PM2.5 18.5 µg/m³

≈ 0.4 vs 0.7 🚬 at homesave 0.2

▼ 10.5 µg/m³ less fine-particle pollution than Ottawa right now

Observed Jul 18, 3:00 p.m. EDT

Village on Upper Rideau Lake in the hills of Rideau Lakes country, small but well-supplied with inns.

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Calabogie

#8

~1 h 20 min driveOntarioAQI 66 / Moderate· PM2.5 18.8 µg/m³

≈ 0.4 vs 0.7 🚬 at homesave 0.2

▼ 10.2 µg/m³ less fine-particle pollution than Ottawa right now

Observed Jul 18, 3:00 p.m. EDT

Lake-and-highlands resort area in the Madawaska Valley with a four-season lodge scene.

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Merrickville

#9

~1 h 5 min driveOntarioAQI 65 / Moderate· PM2.5 20.3 µg/m³

≈ 0.5 vs 0.7 🚬 at homesave 0.2

▼ 8.7 µg/m³ less fine-particle pollution than Ottawa right now

Observed Jul 18, 3:00 p.m. EDT

Rideau Canal village of locks, galleries and B&Bs less than an hour from Ottawa.

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Montréal

#10

~2 h 35 min driveQuebecAQI 53 / Moderate· PM2.5 22.8 µg/m³

≈ 0.5 vs 0.7 🚬 at homesave 0.1

▼ 6.2 µg/m³ less fine-particle pollution than Ottawa right now

Observed Jul 18, 3:00 p.m. EDT

A major Quebec city with broad lodging options and live air-quality readings for comparison when smoke shifts across the region.

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Gananoque

#11

~2 h driveOntarioAQI 66 / Moderate· PM2.5 23.1 µg/m³

≈ 0.5 vs 0.7 🚬 at homesave 0.1

▼ 5.9 µg/m³ less fine-particle pollution than Ottawa right now

AQHI 9 — High risk (Kingston station)

Observed Jul 18, 3:00 p.m. EDT

Gateway to the Thousand Islands, with river breezes off the St. Lawrence and island cruises at the dock.

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29 µg/m³PM2.5 in Ottawa right now
AQI 58 / ModerateAQHI 9 — High risk (Ottawa)Latest observation Jul 18, 3:00 p.m. EDT

Build-time readings shown

0.7cigarettes

Standing outside for 12 hours in Ottawa today is roughly like smoking that many cigarettes, going by the current fine-particle pollution.

An equivalence for health impact, not literal smoking: Berkeley Earth puts a full day at 22 µg/m³ of PM2.5 at about one cigarette.How we work this out →

Why live rankings?

Smoke plumes are patchy and move with changing winds, terrain and weather. Nearby lakefront, coastal and higher-elevation places can be much clearer than Ottawa, but no direction is reliably cleaner. That is why this list is recalculated from live PM2.5 readings every hour instead of publishing a fixed escape route. If everything within three hours is smoky, the rankings will say so. Sometimes the honest answer is to stay inside with a filter running.

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