Ranchi's air today: where the smoke is coming from
Ranchi's smoke report
Right now the wind over Ranchi blows from the south-east at 18 km/h (weather model, 30 October, 08:15 IST). In the 24 hours to 30 October, 04:18 IST NASA's satellites saw 10 fires within 250 km upwind of Ranchi, in the direction the wind is coming from, out of 23 within 250 km in every direction. Most were in Paschim Medinipur and Jhargram.
Ranks among the cities with pages here that have any of each: #1 has the most.
Map of the fires around the city, last 24 hours
Each dot is one fire a NASA satellite saw. Red dots are upwind, in the direction the wind is coming from, so their smoke is the likeliest to be reaching the city now; grey dots are in other directions. The moving lines show the wind blowing towards the city. Tap a dot for the village and the time.
Fires within 250 km in the last 24 hours, by direction. Red: the side the wind is coming from (the south-east). Tap a direction to pick out its fires on the map.
What satellites see around Ranchi
What satellites and surveys see around the city. Each is a different measure, so they can't be added up into shares of the air.
Fires around Ranchi in the last 30 days
The busiest of the last 29 days was 25 October, with 436 fire spots within 250 km, 30 of them within 50 km.
within 250 km within 50 km
A fire spot is one fire seen on a day, however many satellites saw it (Pakistan-time days). The archive runs every day from 1 October 2026; before that it holds only the October-November seasons.
NO₂ pollution in Ranchi: traffic, industry and power plants
Over the last 14 days the air over Ranchi held 1.4 times the region's usual level of nitrogen dioxide (NO₂), #43 of 58 cities.
The strongest NO₂ peak within 35 km was 2.52 times the usual level, 26 km from the city centre, near an industrial estate (Patratu Thermal Power Station).
From Sentinel-5P's TROPOMI instrument via NASA's GIBS tiles, which publish NO₂ as colour bands: a level here is good to about one band. NO₂ in big cities comes mostly from vehicle engines; peaks are named after what is nearby, which suggests a source but doesn't measure one. NO₂ window 15 October to 28 October 2026.
Landfills
Carbon Mapper hasn't measured a methane plume from a landfill within 50 km of Ranchi, but 1 landfills and dump sites are mapped there.
Power plants and industry
No fossil-fuel power plant is mapped within 50 km of Ranchi, but 67 industrial areas are.
22 always-hot sites that NASA's satellites saw burning on 20 or more days in 2025: Naisarai (122), Sirka (112), Bisrampur (104)
Within 50 km of the city centre, on either side of the border. These are lists of what is there, not measures of how much each adds to the air.
Every mapped source within 50 km of Ranchi
Tap a layer to hide it, or a site for its name.
Brick-kiln surveys, OpenStreetMap, Carbon Mapper and NASA FIRMS, on either side of the border. These map what is there, not how much each adds to the air. /sites/ · Site lists built 26 October 2026.
Fires around Ranchi this season compared with past years
Fire spots within 250 km of Ranchi from 1 October to 29 October, each year. These count Suomi NPP alone, so every year is measured by the same instrument and the years compare fairly (the 30-day chart above counts all five satellites, three VIIRS and two MODIS, so its numbers are higher).
* 2026: 1 day without Suomi NPP data: a floor
Ranchi against the other cities
Each strip holds the cities with pages here that have any of it, the most on the left; the red mark is Ranchi. They are different measures, so a high rank on one isn't a larger share of the air than a high rank on another.
All the rankings: city rankings
Send this to someone in Ranchi
Pasted into WhatsApp or X, the link shows this map of the fires and the wind, redrawn every few hours.
Ranchi air today: where the smoke is coming from
hamarihawa.org
All the numbers
Every table behind this page.
Upwind districts, last 24 hours
| District | Province or state | Country | Direction | Distance | Fires |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paschim Medinipur | West Bengal | India | south-east | 232 km | 9 |
| Jhargram | West Bengal | India | south-east | 206 km | 1 |
Fires within 250 km by direction, last 24 hours
| From the | Fires |
|---|---|
| north | 0 |
| north-east | 0 |
| east | 13 |
| south-east (the wind is coming from here) | 10 |
| south | 0 |
| south-west | 0 |
| west | 0 |
| north-west | 0 |
Fires within 250 km in the last 7 days
| District | Province or state | Country | Distance | Fires | On farmland |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dhanbad | Jharkhand | India | 118 km | 423 | 0% |
| Paschim Bardhaman | West Bengal | India | 190 km | 225 | 1% |
| Bokaro | Jharkhand | India | 95 km | 156 | 0% |
| Jharsuguda | Odisha | India | 227 km | 132 | 0% |
| Sundargarh | Odisha | India | 155 km | 111 | 2% |
| Paschim Medinipur | West Bengal | India | 231 km | 91 | 0% |
| Ramgarh | Jharkhand | India | 44 km | 90 | 0% |
| Raigarh | Chhattisgarh | India | 246 km | 69 | 0% |
| Sambalpur | Odisha | India | 223 km | 65 | 0% |
| Saraikela | Jharkhand | India | 97 km | 65 | 6% |
Fires around Ranchi this season compared with past years
| Season | Fire spots |
|---|---|
| 2019 | 2,056 |
| 2020 | 2,170 |
| 2021 | 1,998 |
| 2022 | 2,490 |
| 2023 | 2,940 |
| 2024 | 2,026 |
| 2025 | 2,876 |
| 2026 (so far) | 3,945 (1 day without Suomi NPP data: a floor) |
Every measure and rank
Where Ranchi stands among the 58 cities with pages here, on each measure. They are different measures, so a high rank on one isn't a larger share of the air than a high rank on another.
| Measure | Ranchi | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Fire spots within 250 km, last 30 days | 8,426 | 10 of 58 |
| NO₂, times the usual level (14 days) | 1.4× | 43 of 58 |
| Landfill methane within 50 km | none measured | – |
| Measured plant CO₂ within 50 km | none measured | – |
| Brick kilns within 50 km | – | – |
| Industrial areas within 50 km | 67 | 36 of 58 |
| Always-hot sites within 50 km | 22 | 2 of 23 |
Ranks on today's fires
Ranchi's place among the cities, on the numbers that change with each satellite pass.
- Fire spots upwind, last 24 hours: 19 of 34
- Fire spots within 250 km, last 24 hours: 43 of 57
- Fire spots within 250 km, last 7 days: 16 of 58
All the rankings: city rankings
Questions about Ranchi's air
Where is Ranchi's smoke coming from today?
Right now the wind over Ranchi blows from the south-east at 18 km/h (weather model, 30 October, 08:15 IST). In the 24 hours to 30 October, 04:18 IST NASA's satellites saw 10 fires within 250 km upwind of Ranchi, in the direction the wind is coming from, out of 23 within 250 km in every direction. Most were in Paschim Medinipur and Jhargram.
Are crop fires burning near Ranchi?
In the last 24 hours NASA's satellites saw 23 fire spots within 250 km of Ranchi, and 8,426 in the last 30 days. Satellites only see what is burning as they pass, and not under cloud.
How bad is traffic pollution in Ranchi?
Over the 14 days 15 October to 28 October 2026, nitrogen dioxide in the air over Ranchi (within 15 km) was about 1.4 times the usual level of the surrounding region, roughly 2.64 ×10¹⁵ molecules/cm². Of the 58 cities with enough clear days, it ranks 43.
Which landfills near Ranchi release methane?
Carbon Mapper hasn't measured a methane plume from a landfill within 50 km of Ranchi. Its overpasses are occasional, so that isn't proof there are none.
Every number on this page is also in machine-readable form (JSON).
More about Ranchi
- Ranchi on the live map
- Fires in Ranchi district, every season since 2019
- Daily fire pages
- Fire trends
- All cities
Nearby cities: Patna (251 km), Varanasi (323 km), Kolkata (324 km), Bhubaneswar (343 km)
Fires up to 30 October, 04:18 IST. This page updates every 15 minutes. Upwind is a guide, not proof: smoke can travel further than 250 km, the wind turns during the day, and satellites can't see fires under cloud. A fire spot is one fire, about 375 m across, however many satellites saw it. Fires: NASA FIRMS (VIIRS and MODIS). Wind: Open-Meteo's weather model. Air: Copernicus CAMS model estimates, which read low in winter.