Rain cools Delhi, improves air quality to ‘satisfactory’ levels

Light and prolonged rainfall on Wednesday morning brought much-needed relief to Delhi, cooling the city and improving its air quality.

According to data from the India Meteorological Department (IMD) recorded until 5:30 pm, Safdarjung—the capital’s base weather station—recorded a maximum temperature of 30.8°C, nearly 4 degrees below normal. The minimum temperature was also nearly 2°C below normal, settling at 25.6°C.

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The IMD recorded 9.3 mm of rainfall at Safdarjung until 5:30 pm, while the Lodhi Road station reported 11.2 mm. In the past 24 hours, Safdarjung received 14.4 mm of rain, while heavier showers were recorded in other parts of the city—38.9 mm at Pragati Maidan, 32.8 mm at Ridge, and 23.5 mm at Pusa.

Scattered showers across the city helped reduce the Air Quality Index (AQI) from 105 to 79, pushing it into the ‘satisfactory’ category.

According to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), Delhi’s average AQI on Wednesday stood at 67, a significant drop from the previous day’s reading of 88. PM10 remained the dominant pollutant across all 39 monitoring stations.

As per CPCB classification, an AQI between 0 and 50 is considered ‘good’, 51 to 100 ‘satisfactory’, 101 to 200 ‘moderate’, 201 to 300 ‘poor’, 301 to 400 ‘very poor’, and 401 to 500 ‘severe.’