Air quality remained poor to hazardous in major Indian cities on Thursday. Ghaziabad, Noida and New Delhi were in the hazardous category, Lucknow was in the severe band, and Mumbai stayed in the poor range.
Delhi-NCR Worst Hit
Ghaziabad recorded the highest AQI of the eight cities at 536, with PM2.5 at 428 µg/m³ and PM10 at 483 µg/m³. That placed it 10th among the world's most polluted cities on the tracker.
Noida followed at 508 (PM2.5: 391 µg/m³, PM10: 468 µg/m³), ranking 14th. New Delhi logged 474 (PM2.5: 346 µg/m³, PM10: 392 µg/m³), ranking 21st.
All three reported smoke, with temperatures of 24-25 degrees Celsius and wind speeds of only 4.3 to 5 km/h.
Lucknow In Severe Category
Lucknow's AQI stood at 352, classed as severe, with PM2.5 at 188 µg/m³ and PM10 at 225 µg/m³. The city, under smoky haze at 25 degrees Celsius, ranked 39th globally.
Mumbai And The South
Mumbai recorded an AQI of 154, in the poor category, with PM2.5 at 76 µg/m³ and PM10 at 130 µg/m³, despite sunny skies and 28 degrees Celsius. It ranked 154th. Hyderabad stood at 159, also poor (PM2.5: 79 µg/m³, PM10: 87 µg/m³), under smoky haze, ranking 148th.
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Chennai logged 200, poor as well (PM2.5: 91 µg/m³, PM10: 107 µg/m³), ranking 103rd. Even with the strongest wind of the eight cities at 15.8 km/h, it stayed in the poor band.
Kolkata fared best at 73, in the moderate category (PM2.5: 44 µg/m³, PM10: 62 µg/m³), ranking 424th.
Why The Air Is So Bad
A mix of weather and emissions explains the pattern. As temperatures fall and winds slow in winter, pollutants stay close to the ground instead of dispersing, which is visible in the near-still winds across the NCR.
Calm winds, stubble burning emissions and vehicle exhaust were blamed for the rapid decline in Delhi's air quality in the run-up to Diwali. In the winter months, winds also push smoke from stubble burning on farmlands into the capital. Diwali firecrackers were expected to worsen the situation, and the festival fell on 8 November.
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PM2.5 refers to particles finer than 2.5 microns, which can lodge deep in the lungs. People with respiratory conditions are generally advised to limit outdoor exposure when levels are this high.
The figures are live readings from an air quality tracking platform and may differ from official Central Pollution Control Board bulletins.
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