Delhi air quality remains ‘poor’ despite rising temperatures; Anand Vihar worst hit

Residents of Delhi continued to breathe polluted air on Thursday morning, with little relief despite a gradual rise in temperatures across the national capital.

The air quality at Anand Vihar was the worst, recording an Air Quality Index (AQI) of 302 at 9:05 am, falling into the ‘very poor’ category, according to data from the SAMEER App.

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Delhi’s overall AQI stood at 205, placing the city in the ‘poor’ category, with several monitoring stations reporting similarly degraded air quality levels.

Out of 38 active pollution monitoring stations, 21 recorded ‘poor’ air conditions. Shadipur (AQI 292), Bawana (AQI 274), and Mundka (AQI 261) were among the other worst-affected locations.

A day earlier, the city’s overall AQI was recorded at 228, also in the ‘poor’ category, with ozone identified as the primary pollutant. Anand Vihar had then registered ‘very poor’ air quality with an AQI of 342.

The persistence of poor air quality comes despite sustained surface winds over the past 24 hours. According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), westerly surface winds with speeds reaching up to 15 kmph prevailed across Delhi during this period.

Temperature conditions in the city showed little variation. The minimum temperature on Thursday settled at 12.6°C, remaining near normal, while the maximum temperature recorded on Wednesday touched 30°C, about four degrees above normal.