# Honolulu, HI Air Quality Index (AQI) Today > Source: https://breathecheck.com/air-quality/us/hawaii/honolulu/ > Live AQI for Honolulu, HI with a plain verdict — go, short and unloaded, or don't go — plus the monitor behind it and our own hourly record. # Honolulu, HI Air Quality Index (AQI) Today Readings collected automatically every hour; text written and checked by BreatheCheck Editorial . How this page is made → Right now: Honolulu is at 13 , good . ## Is the air safe to breathe in Honolulu today? In Honolulu, BreatheCheck reads 13 as Go . The cutoffs: go below 101 , keep it short and easy from 101 to 150 , move it indoors above 150 . These are our own thresholds, drawn on the EPA bands — EPA itself classifies 101–150 as Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups and does not tell you how long to stay out. Go AQI 0–100 Normal outdoor plans. No change needed. Short & unloaded AQI 101–150 A 20-minute dog walk, not a 2.5-hour run. Keep it brief and easy. Don’t go AQI 151+ Move it indoors. Above 200 that becomes everyone, not just sensitive groups. Above 200 this stops being a personal call: everyone indoors. Duration and intensity are two separate dials | Under 20 min | 20–60 min | Over an hour | | Easy | Go | Go | Go | | Moderate | Go | Go | Go | | Hard | Go | Go | Go | Go Every combination lands the same way at this reading — a hard hour is no different from an easy twenty minutes. The two dials separate above 80 . Where people actually draw the line **All the thresholds people reported, and who reported them** - 60 Asthmatic runner one runner’s own 156-run log - 75–100 Daycare / school parents and staff in one r/toddlers thread, Aug 2025 — not a published rule - 100 Parent community-reported, escalating at 150 and 200 - 110 Runner community-reported EPA classifies 101–150 as Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups. That is an attributed classification, not a verdict on your lungs specifically. If you’re staying in, filter the room you’re actually in A portable HEPA unit or a Corsi-Rosenthal box — one builder put theirs at about $130 for a 12×14 bedroom. We don’t default to a MERV-13 swap in whole-house HVAC: it can restrict airflow, and the safe version needs a static-pressure check first. Dominant pollutant PM2.5 UV index 10 very high · modelled UV hour by hour in Honolulu → Days above AQI 100 0 of 30 days we have recorded The record, day by day → ### When the trades break, vog comes up the chain Honolulu’s normal state is ventilated. The northeast trades cross open Pacific for hundreds of miles before reaching Oʻahu, arrive with almost nothing in them, break against the Koʻolau Range and descend over the city on the leeward south shore. There is no upwind continent, no regional industrial corridor, and no neighboring metro whose pollution can drift in. What the monitors read locally is what fits between the ridge and the water: H-1 traffic through a narrow coastal plain, Honolulu Harbor, and sea salt aerosol that counts as particulate without anything having burned. The exception arrives from about 200 miles southeast. Kīlauea releases sulfur dioxide continuously, and the USGS reports summit emissions typically running between 1,000 and 5,000 tonnes a day even during pauses between eruptive episodes. That SO2 converts to fine sulfate aerosol in sunlight and moisture, which is vog. Under trade wind flow it collects along the Big Island’s Kona side and blows out to sea. When the trades break down and southerly Kona winds take over, more common in winter, the vog moves up the island chain instead, and Oʻahu’s readings climb under a haze with no fire behind it. One night a year is purely local. Fireworks lift PM2.5 at the state health department’s Oʻahu monitors, in Honolulu, at Sand Island and at Kapolei, in the hours after midnight on New Year’s. The trades usually clear it before morning. ## Where this number sits Of the 121 US metros reporting to us right now, Honolulu is number 119 and number 2 of the 2 we track in Hawaii. The pollutant driving it today is PM2.5 . Nearby metros we also measure, and what they read at the same hour: - Hilo, HI — 210 miles away, AQI 27 - Oakland, CA — 2403 miles away, AQI 48 - San Jose, CA — 2413 miles away, AQI 51 - Stockton, CA — 2457 miles away, AQI 51 Why a metro a short drive away reads differently → Where this reading comes from AirNow’s Honolulu reporting area, about 0.4 miles from the metro centre. ## What has air quality in Honolulu actually been? Daily maximum, our own readings. 30 days since 2026-08-16; nothing back-filled. Why we keep our own → 0 of the 30 days we have recorded so far went above AQI 100. | Date | Daily max AQI | EPA band | Hours read | | 2026-09-14 | 13 | Good | 23 | | 2026-09-13 | 14 | Good | 23 | | 2026-09-12 | 21 | Good | 23 | | 2026-09-11 | 22 | Good | 23 | | 2026-09-10 | 35 | Good | 23 | | 2026-09-09 | 57 | Moderate | 23 | | 2026-09-08 | 60 | Moderate | 23 | | 2026-09-07 | 33 | Good | 23 | | 2026-09-06 | 18 | Good | 23 | | 2026-09-05 | 26 | Good | 23 | | 2026-09-04 | 27 | Good | 23 | | 2026-09-03 | 32 | Good | 23 | | 2026-09-02 | 27 | Good | 23 | | 2026-09-01 | 37 | Good | 23 | | 2026-08-31 | 38 | Good | 23 | | 2026-08-30 | 24 | Good | 23 | | 2026-08-29 | 23 | Good | 23 | | 2026-08-28 | 20 | Good | 22 | | 2026-08-27 | 20 | Good | 23 | | 2026-08-26 | 29 | Good | 23 | | 2026-08-25 | 32 | Good | 23 | | 2026-08-24 | 22 | Good | 24 | | 2026-08-23 | 26 | Good | 23 | | 2026-08-22 | 37 | Good | 23 | | 2026-08-21 | 21 | Good | 23 | | 2026-08-20 | 19 | Good | 24 | | 2026-08-19 | 19 | Good | 23 | | 2026-08-18 | 28 | Good | 22 | | 2026-08-17 | 43 | Good | 26 | | 2026-08-16 | 29 | Good | 7 — partial day | ## Questions about Honolulu **What is the air quality in Honolulu right now?** AQI 13 — Good. That is number 119 of the 121 US metros reporting to us at this hour. **Which monitor does this number come from?** Honolulu, about 0.4 miles from the metro centre. One instrument reports for the whole metro, so the side farthest from it is the least well described. **How does Honolulu compare with metros nearby?** At this hour: Hilo 27, Oakland 48, San Jose 51, Stockton 51. A gap that size over that distance usually means different terrain, traffic or wind rather than a broken sensor. **Does this include pollen?** No. The AQI covers PM2.5 , PM10 , ozone, NO₂, SO₂ and CO. A high-pollen day can read clean here and still put someone in bed. What the number means, band by band → · UV in Honolulu → · Why apps disagree → ## Put this number in context On this page Alert me when Honolulu turns One email when it crosses your threshold. Updated 14 Sep 2026, 22:12 UTC