Delhi’s air quality deteriorates again, slips into ‘very poor’ category at 332 AQI

After two days of brief relief, the national capital’s air quality slipped back into the ‘very poor’ category at 332, with several monitoring stations recording ‘severe’ pollution levels.

Delhi’s 24-hour average Air Quality Index (AQI) stood at 332 at 4 p.m. on Friday (December 26, 2025), slipping into the ‘very poor’ category, compared to 234 recorded on Thursday (December 25) and 271 at the same time a day earlier, according to data from the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).

Out of the 38 functional air quality monitoring stations in the city, of a total of 40, eight stations recorded ‘severe’ air quality with AQI readings above 400.

These included Anand Vihar, Bawana, DTU, Jahangirpuri, Narela, Nehru Nagar, Rohini and Vivek Vihar. As many as 20 stations were in the ‘very poor’ category, while nine stations recorded ‘poor’ air quality, as per data from CPCB’s SAMEER app.

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

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Data from the Decision Support System (DSS) for Air Quality Management showed vehicular emissions were the largest contributor to Delhi’s pollution load on Wednesday (December 24), accounting for 19.7%, followed by industries in Delhi and its periphery at 10.1% and residential sources at 4.9%.

Among NCR districts, Jhajjar in Haryana contributed the highest share to Delhi’s pollution at 20%, followed by Sonipat (4%), Panipat (4%), Gurugram (4%) and Rohtak (2.3%, the data showed).

The Air Quality Early Warning System forecast that Delhi’s air quality is likely to remain in the ‘very poor’ category over the next six days.

On the weather front, Delhi recorded a maximum temperature of 22.3°C on Wednesday (December 24), 1.6 degrees above normal, while the minimum temperature settled at 7.7°C, slightly below normal, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.

Relative humidity levels ranged between 66% and 100%.

The IMD forecasts a maximum and minimum temperature of around 22°C and 7°C, respectively, on Saturday (December 27), with dense fog expected over the next few days.