Delhi recorded its coldest October morning in three years on Tuesday, with the minimum temperature falling to 15.3 degrees Celsius at Safdarjung as the city’s air quality deteriorated from moderate to poor by evening.
The minimum temperature was 1.9 degrees Celsius below normal and dropped 0.9 degrees over the previous 24 hours, according to the India Meteorological Department. The city last recorded a lower minimum temperature on October 27, 2023, when the minimum settled at 15.2 degrees Celsius.
The maximum temperature at Safdarjung reached 31.5 degrees Celsius, which was 0.3 degrees below normal. The combination of a cooler morning and worsening air quality marked a sharper change in Delhi’s outdoor conditions as the month moved towards its final days.
Delhi’s 24-hour average Air Quality Index stood at 197 at 4 pm, placing it in the moderate category and close to the poor threshold. The AQI later rose to 218 by 7 pm, moving into the poor category. The city had recorded an AQI of 174 on Monday and 153 on Sunday, according to data from the Central Pollution Control Board.
Under CPCB standards, an AQI between zero 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.
Of Delhi’s 55 air-quality monitoring stations, 27 recorded poor air quality on Tuesday. Ghogha recorded satisfactory air quality, while the remaining stations were in the moderate category. Jahangirpuri recorded the highest AQI among the stations at 280.
The deterioration was not uniform across the city. The station-level readings showed that some parts of Delhi had already entered the poor category while others remained moderate, reflecting differences in local air-quality conditions across the urban area.
Weather stations elsewhere in the capital also recorded below-normal temperatures. Palam recorded a maximum temperature of 29.9 degrees Celsius, 2.2 degrees below normal, and a minimum of 15.5 degrees Celsius, 2.3 degrees below normal. At Lodi Road, the maximum was 31.2 degrees Celsius, 0.8 degrees below normal, while the minimum was 15.6 degrees Celsius, 0.4 degrees below normal.
The Ridge recorded a maximum temperature of 31 degrees Celsius, 1.1 degrees below normal, and a minimum of 16.2 degrees Celsius, 2.3 degrees below normal. The next official readings from the IMD and CPCB will indicate whether the cooler conditions and deteriorating air quality continue across the capital.
