New Delhi: Delhi experienced a brief improvement in air quality on Thursday morning, with the city’s Air Quality Index (AQI) recorded at 220, placing it in the ‘poor’ category, according to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).
Data from the CPCB’s Sameer app showed that 29 monitoring stations across the capital reported AQI levels within the ‘poor’ range. Anand Vihar remained an exception, recording AQI in the ‘very poor’ category at 308, while several other stations registered ‘moderate’ air quality.
For context, the CPCB classifies AQI values from 0–50 as ‘good’, 51–100 ‘satisfactory’, 101–200 ‘moderate’, 201–300 ‘poor’, 301–400 ‘very poor’, and 401–500 as ‘severe’. The 24-hour average AQI on Wednesday also fell in the ‘poor’ category, showing a notable improvement from Tuesday afternoon, when AQI had surged to 412 in the ‘severe’ range.
Authorities attributed the temporary improvement to favourable meteorological conditions, including surface winds blowing at 15–25 km/h, which helped disperse pollutants.
On the weather front, the city recorded a minimum temperature of 6.5 degrees Celsius, slightly below the seasonal average, with relative humidity at 63 per cent. Forecasters expect a maximum temperature of around 22 degrees Celsius and generally moderate weather conditions throughout the day.
Despite the current relief, experts caution that air quality may deteriorate again in the coming days due to changing weather patterns and ongoing pollution sources.
