This is a story of a brief reprieve from the smog, immediately followed by the winter chill setting in hard. Delhi finally broke its record 24-day streak of “very poor” air quality, but the relief is marginal, and the temperature is plummeting.
Here are the details from the ground:
Also read:Parliament Winter Session: 100% FDI, Sin Tax, & 9 Key Reforms.
Delhi Shivers at 5.7°C, AQI Back in ‘Poor’ at 300
The big news is the cold. Safdarjung station recorded the minimum temperature at 5.7°C on Monday morning, which is a staggering 4.6 degrees below normal. This is the lowest minimum temperature of the season and the coldest reading for November since at least 2022. It happened. And then the city truly shivered.
The Air Quality Situation
The air is technically better, but let’s be real, it’s still dangerous.
AQI Level: Delhi’s overall Air Quality Index (AQI) stands at 300 as of Monday morning (up marginally from Sunday’s 279), placing it firmly in the ‘poor’ category (AQI 201–300).
The Breather: The 24-day run of ‘very poor’ air quality (301–400) officially ended Sunday. This small respite, which brought clearer skies to Delhi and the NCR, was thanks to strong northwesterly winds that picked up speed (10–15 km/hr) on Saturday, helping to disperse the accumulated pollutants.
The Bad News: While the average is ‘poor’, 23 out of 38 monitoring stations are still recording ‘very poor’ levels. Nehru Nagar had the worst AQI at 354.
Forecast: More Cold and Pollution Risk
The outlook is typical, nasty Delhi winter: cold air, shallow fog, and high risk of pollution stagnation.
Forecast Cold: Minimum temperatures are expected to remain around 8°C to 10°C for the next few days, with a further drop of 2°C to 3°C predicted between December 3 and 5. The city is officially logging its coldest November in five years based on the monthly average minimum temperature.
Forecast Fog/AQI: The IMD is predicting shallow to moderate fog during morning hours starting today. While the strong winds helped disperse pollutants, the falling temperatures and fog typically trap pollutants, meaning the AQI is under constant threat of slipping back into the ‘very poor’ or ‘severe’ category again.
Also read:Parliament Winter Session: 100% FDI, Sin Tax, & 9 Key Reforms.
