Fast winds on Saturday—a day after a three-year high single-day rainfall for January—, cleaned up the Capital’s air, leading to a dramatic improvement in the air quality index (AQI), according to the Central Pollution Control Board’s daily bulletin. The day’s 24-hour average AQI was 192 (“moderate”) at 4pm—recording almost a 100-point improvement from the AQI of 282 (“poor”) recorded the day before.
The AQI continued to improve throughout Saturday, clocking a reading of 184 at 5pm, 165 at 8pm and 163 at 10pm.
This is also the first “moderate” air day since October 13, 2025, when the 24-hour AQI of the city was logged at 189.
The CPCB classifies an AQI of 51 to 100 as “satisfactory”, 101 to 200 as “moderate”, 201 to 300 as “poor”, 301 to 400 as “very poor”, and a reading above 400 as “severe”.
However, forecasts by the Air Quality Early Warning System (AQEWS) for Delhi predicted that the AQI was likely to deteriorate again.
“The air quality is likely to be in the ‘poor’ category Sunday. The air quality is likely to be in the ‘very poor’ category on Monday. The air quality is likely to be in the ‘poor’ category on Tuesday. The outlook for the subsequent six days is that the air quality is likely to be in the ‘poor’ to ‘very poor’ category,” read the AQEWS bulletin on Saturday evening.
Mahesh Palawat, vice president at Skymet, a private weather forecaster, said, “The wind speed, as had been predicted, remained high and was consistently around 18-20kmph, which led to the dramatic improvement in the air quality. The wind speed is expected to remain high for at least another day.”
Saturday also brought back the all-too-familiar chill to the Capital, as the minimum temperature clocked a sharp dip, after it had gone up by several notches on Friday due to cloudy skies.
Delhi logged a minimum temperature of 7.6 degrees Celsius (°C), which was 0.1°C above the normal and 6.1°C lower than the minimum of 13.7°C recorded the day before. The maximum temperature on Saturday was logged at 18.2°C, 2.1°C below normal, but up from the maximum of 16°C recorded the day before.
Meanwhile, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) issued a yellow alert for Tuesday, forecasting rain and thunderstorms. “Generally cloudy skies will persist on Tuesday, with possible one or two spells of light rain accompanied with lightning, thunderstorm and gusty winds of speed 30-40 kmph likely during early morning to forenoon hours. Another spell of very light to light rain may occur towards afternoon or evening,” an IMD official said.
The improvement in the air quality comes a day after the Capital recorded widespread light to moderate rainfall on Friday due to the influence of a western disturbance. Delhi clocked 19.8mm of rainfall, which was the highest single-day spell recorded in January in three years, since January 30, 2023, when 20.3mm of rainfall was recorded.
Palawat said, “The rain expected on Tuesday is due to the influence of a second western disturbance. However, the intensity of this one is expected to be slightly lower.”
According to the forecast by IMD, the minimum temperature is expected to be around 4-6°C on Sunday and 8-10°C by Tuesday. The maximum temperature is forecast to remain around 18-20°C on Sunday and 19-21°C on Monday.
About the Author
