Delhi air quality: City breathes cleanest air since October 2025, pollution curbs out

Delhi air quality: The 24-hour average AQI stood at 119 (moderate) at 4 pm on Monday – down from a reading of 175 (moderate) at 4 pm on Sunday.

The Capital on Monday recorded its best air since October last year on the back of light rain and gusty winds, prompting the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) to lift all pollution control measures under the Graded Response Action Plan (Grap) for the national capital region.

Delhi air quality witnessed a significant improvement in the last few days on account of rains and winds. (Photo for representation) (Hindustan Times)

The 24-hour average air quality index (AQI) stood at 119 (moderate) at 4 pm on Monday – down from a reading of 175 (moderate) at 4 pm on Sunday. At 11 am, the AQI was 97 (satisfactory), but began to rise through the day as the sun came out. The lead pollutant was Ozone (O3) — a gas formed during high temperatures and under the reaction of sunlight.

This is Delhi’s lowest average AQI since October 9, 2025, when it was 99 (satisfactory). On Sunday, several areas witnessed light rain, overcast skies and winds of up to 40km per hour with Safdarjung, the city’s base station for weather, recording 0.4mm of rainfall in 24 hours till 8:30 am.

In a statement, CAQM said it was lifting Grap restrictions, given that “as per the dynamic model and forecasts for meteorological conditions and air quality index made available by the India Meteorological Department (IMD) and IITM, the average AQI of Delhi is likely to remain in the ‘moderate’ category in the coming days.”

Delhi was under Stage-1 or the “poor” category restrictions, which largely include preventive measures such as increased sprinkling of water and mechanised sweeping on roads. The last time Delhi had no Grap measures in place was October 13 last year with Stage-1 measures being implemented a day later and remaining effective since then.

On Monday, of the 44 active air quality stations, data on Central Pollution Control Board’s (CPCB) Sameer app showed that 34 were in the ‘moderate’ range of 101-200 at 4 pm, while 10 stations were in the ‘satisfactory’ range of 51 till 100. The lowest AQI was 70 (satisfactory) at ITO, while the highest was 181 at Mandir Marg.

Forecasts show the AQI will stay ‘moderate’ till at least March 19. The IMD said a fresh western disturbance is expected to influence northwest India from Tuesday onwards, with chances of light rain in the city from Wednesday till Friday.

“We can expect drizzle and gusty winds up to 40 km/hr in places. A yellow alert is in place for Friday – with chances of at least two such spells of rain through the day,” an IMD official said.

Delhi’s maximum temperature was 32.2°C on Monday – three notches above normal. It was 30.1°C on Sunday. Forecasts by the IMD show the maximum is likely to hover between 32-34°C on Tuesday and Wednesday. It is expected to be between 29-31°C on Thursday and 28-30°C on Friday. “Temperature will remain in check following upcoming western disturbance and should not rise much over the weekend,” said the IMD official. This comes as a respite after an unusually warm start to March, with temperatures remaining above 30°C on all days — ranging between four to seven degrees above normal. The highest maximum recorded so far this month was 36.8°C on March 11.

The minimum on Monday was 17.4°C — two degrees above normal but 1.3°C below Sunday’s minimum. It is expected to drop further and should hover between 14-16°C on Tuesday. While it may rise to around 19°C on Wednesday and Thursday, a dip back to 14-16°C is expected over the weekend.