Delhi air quality remains very poor with AQI crossing 400 in some areas

New Delhi: Delhi's air quality remained in the very poor category on Monday even as the weather department forecast a partly cloudy with chances of very light rain towards the evening.

According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the national capital recorded a minimum temperature of 17.3 degrees Celsius, 0.1 degrees above the season's average.

The maximum temperature is expected to hover around 29 degrees Celsius. At 8:30 am, the humidity level was 94 per cent.

As per the Central Pollution Control Board's (CPCB) Sameer app, localities such as Bawana and Anand Vihar recorded severe air quality with Air Quality Index (AQI) readings of 401 and 431, respectively.

Out of 38 monitoring stations across the city, 23 reported very poor air quality with readings above 300.

On Sunday, the city's air quality had marginally improved to the poor category after remaining very poor for most of the day, while the minimum temperature settled at 15.8 degrees Celsius - the lowest recorded in October in the last two years.

The AQI had stood at 292 in the evening, compared to 324 in the morning.

In October 2023, the minimum temperature dipped to 15.9 degrees Celsius and settled at 17.4 degrees Celsius in the same month the previous year.

According to the CPCB, 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".