SmogRank / Episodes / Brazil

São Paulo, Brazil, August 2023

For 2 days, from 5 to 6 August 2023, 8 cities in Brazil had PM2.5 at least twice their usual for the time of year. The worst reading was Santo André, São Paulo, Brazil: 44.9 µg/m³ on 5 August, about 2.6× its usual 17.0. Ended 6 August.

No cause namedWe have no fire or smoke records for these days, so we only say what the measurements show.
Cities reached8in 1 country
Days25 to 6 August 2023
Worst day5 August7 cities counted
Furthest above usual2.6×Santo André

Day by day

5 August 7 cities at twice their usual or more
SantosTaubatéLimeiraPiracicabaRio ClaroGuaratinguetáRibeirão PretoCuritibaAraucáriaSão José dos CamposJundiaíPaulíniaSão PauloFerraz de VasconcelosItaquaquecetubaCampinasSanto André

No fire and smoke map for this day.

2 Aug3456789
Every measured city in the area, coloured by its PM2.5 that day; a dark ring marks a city at twice its usual or more. Bars: cities counted each day, coloured by their median level. Choose a day or press play; without JavaScript, the days link to that day's world ranking.
  • Fires, seenHeat NASA satellites detected that day; bigger and glowing means more detections in the area. Farm burning and other fires count too, not only wildfires.

Under the cities, for each UTC day: fires NASA satellites detected, smoke NOAA analysts traced and volcanic ash warnings for aircraft. They show what was in the air, not that it caused the readings. Mapped for 4 of the 8 days shown.

Fires: NASA FIRMS (VIIRS). Traced smoke: NOAA Hazard Mapping System. Volcanic ash: aviation ash warnings (SIGMETs) via NOAA's Aviation Weather Center.

How it spread

Santo AndréSanto André, 2 August: 31.1 µg/m³Santo André, 3 August: 37.0 µg/m³Santo André, 4 August: 40.6 µg/m³Santo André, 5 August: 44.9 µg/m³, 2.6× its usual 17.0Santo André, 6 August: 38.0 µg/m³, 2.2× its usual 16.9Santo André, 7 August: 31.9 µg/m³Santo André, 8 August: 6.8 µg/m³Santo André, 9 August: 6.7 µg/m³Ferraz de Vasconcel…Ferraz de Vasconcelos, 2 August: 30.3 µg/m³Ferraz de Vasconcelos, 3 August: 37.0 µg/m³Ferraz de Vasconcelos, 4 August: 41.7 µg/m³Ferraz de Vasconcelos, 5 August: 44.8 µg/m³, 2.3× its usual 19.6Ferraz de Vasconcelos, 6 August: 39.8 µg/m³, 2.0× its usual 19.6Ferraz de Vasconcelos, 7 August: 32.5 µg/m³Ferraz de Vasconcelos, 8 August: 7.1 µg/m³Ferraz de Vasconcelos, 9 August: 6.9 µg/m³São PauloSão Paulo, 2 August: 31.2 µg/m³São Paulo, 3 August: 35.5 µg/m³São Paulo, 4 August: 31.1 µg/m³São Paulo, 5 August: 41.9 µg/m³, 2.2× its usual 19.3São Paulo, 6 August: 34.4 µg/m³São Paulo, 7 August: 30.5 µg/m³São Paulo, 8 August: 8.4 µg/m³São Paulo, 9 August: 8.3 µg/m³ItaquaquecetubaItaquaquecetuba, 2 August: 21.1 µg/m³Itaquaquecetuba, 3 August: 30.0 µg/m³Itaquaquecetuba, 4 August: 47.1 µg/m³Itaquaquecetuba, 5 August: 41.3 µg/m³, 2.4× its usual 16.9Itaquaquecetuba, 6 August: 36.0 µg/m³, 2.2× its usual 16.6Itaquaquecetuba, 7 August: 33.4 µg/m³Itaquaquecetuba, 8 August: 6.5 µg/m³Itaquaquecetuba, 9 August: 7.9 µg/m³CampinasCampinas, 2 August: 31.8 µg/m³Campinas, 3 August: 31.9 µg/m³Campinas, 4 August: 26.3 µg/m³Campinas, 5 August: 40.5 µg/m³, 2.5× its usual 16.5Campinas, 6 August: 26.8 µg/m³Campinas, 7 August: 29.9 µg/m³Campinas, 8 August: 10.8 µg/m³Campinas, 9 August: 11.2 µg/m³PaulíniaPaulínia, 2 August: 23.5 µg/m³Paulínia, 3 August: 27.7 µg/m³Paulínia, 4 August: 26.2 µg/m³Paulínia, 5 August: 39.2 µg/m³, 2.2× its usual 17.5Paulínia, 6 August: 23.1 µg/m³Paulínia, 7 August: 29.0 µg/m³Paulínia, 8 August: 11.5 µg/m³Paulínia, 9 August: 11.5 µg/m³JundiaíJundiaí, 2 August: 27.5 µg/m³Jundiaí, 3 August: 28.1 µg/m³Jundiaí, 4 August: 27.9 µg/m³Jundiaí, 5 August: 37.5 µg/m³, 2.2× its usual 17.4Jundiaí, 6 August: 27.1 µg/m³Jundiaí, 7 August: 22.1 µg/m³Jundiaí, 8 August: 8.7 µg/m³Jundiaí, 9 August: 7.0 µg/m³São José dos CamposSão José dos Campos, 2 August: 16.9 µg/m³São José dos Campos, 3 August: 21.2 µg/m³São José dos Campos, 4 August: 23.8 µg/m³São José dos Campos, 5 August: 25.7 µg/m³São José dos Campos, 6 August: 29.3 µg/m³, 2.2× its usual 13.4São José dos Campos, 7 August: 21.1 µg/m³São José dos Campos, 8 August: 6.4 µg/m³São José dos Campos, 9 August: 6.6 µg/m³2 Aug3456789
Every counted city, in the order the episode reached them, 3 days before to 3 after. Each square is a day, coloured by that day's PM2.5; outlined: at twice the city's usual or more.
Good0–50
Moderate51–100
Sensitive groups101–150
Unhealthy151–200
Very unhealthy201–300
Hazardous301+

Every city it reached

CityDaysHighestUsualAbove usual
Santo AndréSão Paulo, Brazil2 44.95 August17.02.6×
CampinasSão Paulo, Brazil1 40.55 August16.52.5×
ItaquaquecetubaSão Paulo, Brazil2 41.35 August16.92.4×
Ferraz de VasconcelosSão Paulo, Brazil2 44.85 August19.62.3×
São PauloSão Paulo, Brazil1 41.95 August19.32.2×
PaulíniaSão Paulo, Brazil1 39.25 August17.52.2×
JundiaíSão Paulo, Brazil1 37.55 August17.42.2×
São José dos CamposSão Paulo, Brazil1 29.36 August13.42.2×

Daily means in µg/m³, over the days each city counted in this episode. Highest: its highest of those days. Usual: the city's median for the time of year of that day (its days within 21 days of the date, every year, leaving out the week around it). Above usual: its highest day against that, with a usual under 5 µg/m³ taken as 5.

Against other episodes in Brazil

Number 20 of 20 episodes in Brazil since our records began, by cities reached.

Bars: cities reached; colour: the level of the episode's highest daily reading. All 20.

Use this page

SmogRank, São Paulo, Brazil, August 2023: 8 cities with PM2.5 at twice their usual or more, 5 to 6 August 2023, smogrank.com/episodes/2023-08-sao-paulo-brazil (accessed 12 October 2026).

Download top 10 (PNG)

You're welcome to reuse a single chart, image or figure with this citation and a link. Terms.

An episode is a run of days when many cities close to each other (four or more within 350 km on a day, 8 or more in all) each had a daily PM2.5 mean of at least 25 µg/m³ and at least 2 times their usual for that time of year. Found in our own measurements, not picked by hand. How we find episodes. Values are each city's daily mean of its own monitors; causes are the usual kinds for a pattern like this, not a confirmed source. Dust: contains modified Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service information 2023. Neither the European Commission nor ECMWF is responsible for any use that may be made of the Copernicus information or data it contains.