Rawalpindi's air today: where the smoke is coming from
Rawalpindi's smoke report
Right now the wind over Rawalpindi blows from the east at 3 km/h (weather model, 30 October, 07:45 PKT). In the 24 hours to 30 October, 03:48 PKT NASA's satellites saw 5 fires within 250 km upwind of Rawalpindi, in the direction the wind is coming from, out of 548 within 250 km in every direction. Most were in Abbottabad and Kotli.
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 east). Tap a direction to pick out its fires on the map.
What satellites see around Rawalpindi
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 Rawalpindi in the last 30 days
Fires around Rawalpindi were at their highest on the latest day, 29 October, with 550 fire spots within 250 km, 6 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 Rawalpindi: traffic, industry and power plants
Over the last 14 days the air over Rawalpindi held 4.7 times the region's usual level of nitrogen dioxide (NO₂), #1 of 58 cities.
The strongest NO₂ peak within 35 km was 6.94 times the usual level, 9 km from the city centre in the built-up area of Rawalpindi, the pattern of traffic.
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.
Brick kilns
499 brick kilns stand within 50 km of Rawalpindi. Their survey puts the smoke from the 410 it has figures for at about 101 tonnes of PM2.5 a day in the firing season.
Landfills
Satellites and aircraft have measured methane rising from Losar Kachra Kundi, 22 km from the centre, 15 times, about 893 kg an hour. That puts it #16 of the 58 measured landfills in Pakistan and India.
Rank among the 58 landfill records with a measured rate in Carbon Mapper's data for Pakistan and India (this extract covers only these two countries). Rates are Carbon Mapper's automatic per-plume estimates; landfill methane also carries the smell and smoke of burning rubbish.
Power plants and industry
1 fossil-fuel power plant and 134 industrial areas lie within 50 km of Rawalpindi. Carbon Mapper has measured CO₂ plumes from 3 plants here, about 159 tonnes an hour.
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 Rawalpindi
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 Rawalpindi this season compared with past years
Fire spots within 250 km of Rawalpindi 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
Rawalpindi 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 Rawalpindi. 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 Rawalpindi
Pasted into WhatsApp or X, the link shows this map of the fires and the wind, redrawn every few hours.
Rawalpindi 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Abbottabad | Khyber Pakhtunkhwa | Pakistan | north-east | 59 km | 4 |
| Kotli | Azad Kashmir | Pakistan | east | 105 km | 1 |
Fires within 250 km by direction, last 24 hours
| From the | Fires |
|---|---|
| north | 6 |
| north-east | 7 |
| east (the wind is coming from here) | 1 |
| south-east | 138 |
| south | 344 |
| south-west | 41 |
| west | 9 |
| north-west | 2 |
Fires within 250 km in the last 7 days
| District | Province or state | Country | Distance | Fires | On farmland |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hafizabad | Punjab | Pakistan | 180 km | 453 | 98% |
| Gujranwala | Punjab | Pakistan | 186 km | 408 | 89% |
| Shekhupura | Punjab | Pakistan | 226 km | 330 | 94% |
| Nankana Sahib | Punjab | Pakistan | 224 km | 329 | 96% |
| Jhang | Punjab | Pakistan | 236 km | 260 | 100% |
| Sargodha | Punjab | Pakistan | 188 km | 151 | 97% |
| Mandi Bahauddin | Punjab | Pakistan | 137 km | 147 | 89% |
| Sialkot | Punjab | Pakistan | 198 km | 113 | 90% |
| Chiniot | Punjab | Pakistan | 217 km | 79 | 99% |
| Amritsar | Punjab | India | 246 km | 73 | 97% |
Fires around Rawalpindi this season compared with past years
| Season | Fire spots |
|---|---|
| 2019 | 1,032 |
| 2020 | 2,660 |
| 2021 | 3,414 |
| 2022 | 2,018 |
| 2023 | 1,524 |
| 2024 | 2,220 |
| 2025 | 2,278 |
| 2026 (so far) | 1,817 (1 day without Suomi NPP data: a floor) |
Landfill methane records
| Site | Methane | Plumes seen | Last seen | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Losar Kachra Kundi (Rawalpindi, Pakistan, 22 km) | 893 kg/h | 15 | 16 September 2026 | 16 of 58 |
Rank among the 58 landfill records with a measured rate in Carbon Mapper's data for Pakistan and India (this extract covers only these two countries). Rates are Carbon Mapper's automatic per-plume estimates; landfill methane also carries the smell and smoke of burning rubbish.
Every measure and rank
Where Rawalpindi 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 | Rawalpindi | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Fire spots within 250 km, last 30 days | 5,075 | 13 of 58 |
| NO₂, times the usual level (14 days) | 4.7× | 1 of 58 |
| Landfill methane within 50 km | 893 kg/h | 19 of 34 |
| Measured plant CO₂ within 50 km | 159 t/h | 15 of 22 |
| Brick kilns within 50 km | 499 | 21 of 34 |
| Industrial areas within 50 km | 134 | 24 of 58 |
| Always-hot sites within 50 km | 0 | – |
Ranks on today's fires
Rawalpindi's place among the cities, on the numbers that change with each satellite pass.
- Fire spots upwind, last 24 hours: 27 of 34
- Fire spots within 250 km, last 24 hours: 11 of 57
- Fire spots within 250 km, last 7 days: 12 of 58
All the rankings: city rankings
Questions about Rawalpindi's air
Where is Rawalpindi's smoke coming from today?
Right now the wind over Rawalpindi blows from the east at 3 km/h (weather model, 30 October, 07:45 PKT). In the 24 hours to 30 October, 03:48 PKT NASA's satellites saw 5 fires within 250 km upwind of Rawalpindi, in the direction the wind is coming from, out of 548 within 250 km in every direction. Most were in Abbottabad and Kotli.
Are crop fires burning near Rawalpindi?
In the last 24 hours NASA's satellites saw 548 fire spots within 250 km of Rawalpindi, and 5,075 in the last 30 days. Satellites only see what is burning as they pass, and not under cloud.
How bad is traffic pollution in Rawalpindi?
Over the 14 days 15 October to 28 October 2026, nitrogen dioxide in the air over Rawalpindi (within 15 km) was about 4.7 times the usual level of the surrounding region, roughly 6.1 ×10¹⁵ molecules/cm². Of the 58 cities with enough clear days, it ranks 1.
How many brick kilns are there near Rawalpindi?
The satellite surveys count 499 brick kilns within 50 km of Rawalpindi.
Which landfills near Rawalpindi release methane?
Carbon Mapper has measured methane plumes from Losar Kachra Kundi (893 kg/h).
Every number on this page is also in machine-readable form (JSON).
More about Rawalpindi
Nearby cities: Islamabad (11 km), Abbottabad (66 km), Peshawar (143 km), Srinagar (170 km)
Fires up to 30 October, 03:48 PKT. 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.