As forecast, air quality levels were poor across some parts of the UK yesterday and that continues today.

Observations available from Defra’s monitoring network show that yesterday parts of the south east saw levels of 8 and 9, in the high category for pollutants, on the air quality index.

Given the close match between our forecast and the observations that we do have available, there’s confidence that our forecast provided good advice and that we saw air quality levels in line with expectations.

Today’s forecast is again for poor air quality in south eastern parts of the country. Observations show daily air quality index values of 10 in the London area. Conditions are expected to improve as we go into this evening and later into the week.

The air quality forecasts provided by Defra are the most detailed forecasts provided for the UK to date. It means that emergency responders, government agencies and members of the public can use the forecast to make informed decisions.

Met Office air quality forecast for 2 April 2014

Measured values of daily air quality index for 2 Apr 2014 from UK network