Delhi’s air quality remains ‘poor’; minimum temperature recorded at 15.7°C
Delhi’s air quality index (AQI) remained in the ‘poor’ category as the city recorded a minimum temperature of 15.7°C on Wednesday, 0.4 degrees below normal. The development comes a day after the national Capital recorded its coldest day of the month, clocking a minimum temperature of 15.3°C. Particulate matter 2.5 (PM2.5) was the predominant pollutant at 42 of Delhi’s 58 reporting stations at 6am on Wednesday, while PM10 was the main pollutant at 15 stations, according to Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) data. Meanwhile, satellite data from National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) detected 767 farm fires in Punjab and Haryana between October 1 and 27, including 661 in Punjab and 106 in Haryana. Of these, 65 fires were detected on Tuesday.
NASA’s satellite count of farm fires in Punjab and Haryana is now a large undercount. NASA counted 4,824 fires in the two states between October 1 and November 30, 2025, 94% fewer than over the same period in 2021, while the area burned fell only 19%, according to iFOREST, a research group that maps it from before-and-after satellite images. Most of the burning now happens after NASA’s satellite passes over the region at about 1.30pm. An HT analysis of data from Meteosat, a European weather satellite that scans the region every 15 minutes, shows the shift. In 2021, about 40% of the fire heat Meteosat recorded came between 1pm and 3pm. In 2025, less than 1% did, and 98% came after 3pm. India’s INSAT-3DS satellite, which scans every half hour, shows the same: from October 16, 2025, 99% of the fire pixels it flagged in Punjab and Haryana came after 3pm. Ayanagar was the coldest among the city’s five weather stations, recording a minimum temperature of 14.8°C, followed by Palam at 15.5 degrees Celsius and Safdarjung at 15.7°C. Lodhi Road recorded a minimum of 16.2°C, while the Ridge station recorded 16.5°C, according to India Meteorological Department (IMD) data. Earlier reporting noted: Delhi records coldest morning of season; air quality remains in moderate category Delhi recorded its coldest morning of the season on Tuesday, with the minimum temperature dipping to 15.3°C, or 1.9 degrees below normal, at Safdarjung, the base weather station, while the air quality remained in the moderate category. Earlier reporting noted: Ayanagar recorded the lowest minimum temperature among the weather stations at 15.2°C, two degrees below normal. The minimum temperature (15.5°C) at Palam was 2.3 degrees below normal. It dropped to 15.6°C, or 0.4 degrees below normal, at Lodhi Road. The Ridge recorded a minimum of 16.2°C, 2.3 degrees below normal at 8.30 am on Tuesday. Earlier reporting noted: On Monday, a maximum temperature of 31.4°C was recorded at Safdarjung and Lodhi Road and 29.3°C at Palam. The maximum temperature was 31°C and 31.1°C at the Ridge and Ayanagar.
