Delhi Air Quality Returns to ‘Moderate’ After 103 Days As Rain Brings Brief Relief

Delhi’s air quality briefly returned to the ‘moderate’ category on Saturday after more than three months, as rainfall helped ease a prolonged stretch of hazardous pollution, PTI reported.

After nearly three-and-a-half months — 103 days — the capital recorded an average Air Quality Index (AQI) of 192, bringing some relief following sustained ‘poor’, ‘very poor’ and ‘severe’ conditions. According to an analysis by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), the last time Delhi experienced ‘moderate’ air quality was on October 13, 2025, when the AQI stood at 189, PTI reported.

CREA’s analysis showed that between October 1 and October 13, Delhi saw nine days of ‘moderate’ air quality before pollution levels worsened sharply. From October 14, 2025 onwards, the city remained under hazardous air conditions, recording 26 days of ‘poor’ AQI, 66 days of ‘very poor’ AQI, and 10 days classified as ‘severe’.

“Even Saturday's improvement to the 'moderate' range offers limited relief, as this category is known to cause breathing discomfort for people with lung disorders, asthma and heart disease,” the analysis said.

According to PTI, the respite is expected to be short-lived. The Air Quality Early Warning System has forecast that Delhi’s air quality will remain in the ‘poor’ category over the next two days. For the following six days, conditions are predicted to fluctuate between ‘poor’ and ‘very poor’.

CREA data showed that the cleanest air recorded since October 1, 2025, was on October 8, when the AQI improved to 81, placing it in the ‘satisfactory’ category. In contrast, the worst air quality was observed on December 14 last year, when the AQI spiked to 461, pushing the city into the ‘severe’ category, PTI reported.

The improvement on Saturday was largely attributed to Friday’s rainfall, the first spell of rain in 2026 and the highest January rainfall in two years, which led to a sharp drop in temperatures and helped clear airborne pollutants. However, despite the rainfall, the AQI on Friday remained in the ‘poor’ category at 282.

Prior to this brief improvement, Delhi had endured around 10 consecutive days of ‘very poor’ to ‘severe’ air quality, with AQI levels ranging between 322 and 440.

Station-wise data revealed significant variation across the city on Saturday. At 9 pm, NSIT Dwarka recorded the best air quality with an AQI of 97, falling in the ‘satisfactory’ category, while Anand Vihar reported the worst levels at 217, categorised as ‘poor’.

As per the Central Pollution Control Board’s Sameer app, 35 monitoring stations were in the ‘moderate’ category at 9 pm, two were in the ‘poor’ range, and one station recorded ‘satisfactory’ air quality.

According to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), an AQI of 0–50 is classified as ‘good’, 51–100 as ‘satisfactory’, 101–200 as ‘moderate’, 201–300 as ‘poor’, 301–400 as ‘very poor’, and 401–500 as ‘severe’.

(With inputs from PTI)