AQI remains ‘very poor’ in Delhi, no respite for next two days

Winds up to 20 km/hr were recorded in the city on Tuesday, which led to some dispersion of pollutants, snapping a three day streak of severe air

Published on: Dec 17, 2025, 08:49:55 IST

By Jasjeev Gandhiok

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Delhi’s air quality marginally improved on Wednesday -- aided by strong winds, but remained in the ‘very poor’ category, even as shallow fog persisted in the region. The average air quality Index (AQI) stood at 328 at 8am on Wednesday - down from 354 at 4pm on Tuesday.

Delhi’s air quality is likely to be in the ‘very poor’ category from December 17 till December 19. (ANI photo)

While the lowest visibility at Safdarjung was 900 metres on Wednesday, it was 1,100 metres (mist) at Palam, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said, adding consistent winds of 7-10 km/hr were recorded in the early hours of the day too.

This meant operations were fairly smooth at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi international (IGI) airport after two days of disrupted operations.

Winds up to 20 km/hr were recorded in the city on Tuesday, which led to some dispersion of pollutants, snapping a three day streak of severe air which peaked at 461 on Sunday - Delhi’s second worst December day ever.

Similar wind speeds of 15-20 km/hr are expected briefly during the day on Wednesday too, with consistent westerly to northwesterly winds now expected till Friday, meteorological experts said. However, forecasts show despite the dip, the AQI is unlikely to improve further and should remain in the ‘very poor’ range till at least December 19.

“Delhi’s air quality is likely to be in the ‘very poor’ category from December 17 till December 19. The outlook for the subsequent six days - from December 20 shows the AQI is likely to be between ‘very poor’ and the ‘severe’ category,” said the Centre’s Air Quality Early Warning System (EWS) for Delhi.

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The CPCB classifies air quality as “moderate” when the AQI is between 101 and 200, “poor” between 201 and 300, and “very poor” between 301 and 400. Beyond 400, air quality is termed “severe”.

At 8am, out of Delhi’s 39 active stations, 30 were in ‘very poor’ with the rest in the ‘poor’ category. On Tuesday, Delhi had one station in ‘severe’ while 28 stations were in ‘severe’ on Monday.

“Consistent winds will continue till at least Friday, so there will be marginal relief from the pollution till then,” said Mahesh Palawat, vice President at Skymet.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jasjeev Gandhiok
Jasjeev Gandhiok is an Assistant Editor with Hindustan Times, where he covers environment, climate change, the clean energy transition and wildlife at the National Bureau. Gandhiok has over a decade of experience in journalism and is based in Delhi. He has reported extensively on Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR). This includes the region's air pollution woes, a polluted Yamuna and on urban wildlife still thriving in the region. He joined HT in October 2021. Prior to that, he had five-year stint at The Times of India in Delhi, where he also covered Delhi, with a focus on environment and wildlife. Gandhiok has covered some recent events around the Capital too, ranging from the farmers' protests, the northeast Delhi riots and the CAA-NRC protests, reporting from the ground on all of these. He also travels across the country to report on how environment and climate change impact everyday life, while also writing on endangered species. His reports in 2019 on toxic leachate from Delhi's landfills led to the National Green Tribunal (NGT) taking suo motu cognisance and ultimately asking the state government to start bio-mining to flatten and remove all three landfills in the capital. He also closely tracks the implementation of government policies on climate, renewable energy and environmental protection. His focus remains on impactful, public-interest journalism which explains how environmental decisions affect people's everyday lives.Read More

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