As winds slow down, AQI dips to very poor, to stay there for a while

• TNN

• Published On Jan 5, 2026 at 12:18 PM IST

The city saw mist during early hours of Sunday with Safdarjung and Palam reporting lowest visibility of 1300 metres at 8 am.

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New Delhi: Delhi’s air quality deteriorated to ‘very poor’, with an Air Quality Index (AQI) of 307 on Sunday. The air quality is likely to remain in the very poor range over the next few days.

The AQI was 380 in the higher-end of the very poor category on Jan 1, but strong consistent winds caused it to dip to 236 on Friday and 267 on Saturday. However, after winds slowed down, the air quality again started deteriorating.

Out of 37 active monitoring stations on Sunday, 24 were in the very poor category. “The air quality is likely to be in the very poor category till Jan 7 and six days thereafter,” said Air Quality Early Warning System for Delhi.The city saw mist during early hours of Sunday with Safdarjung and Palam reporting lowest visibility of 1300 metres at 8 am. India Meteorological Department said there is a possibility of shallow to moderate fog during early morning hours of the city over the next few days. However, the department has not issued any colour-coded warning so far.The maximum temperature on Sunday was recorded at 17.3 degrees Celsius, two degrees below normal. The minimum temperature was reported at 7.4 degrees Celsius, one degree above normal.

“The maximum temperatures are likely to be below normal—around 1 to 3 degrees– during the next 48 hours. It may slightly rise by 1-2°C on Jan 6. However, the minimum temperatures are likely to be near normal, except Jan 6,” said a met official.