Delhi witnesses coldest November day in 3 years as AQI reaches very poor zone

The national capital recorded a minimum temperature of 9 degrees Celsius on Sunday, 4.5 degrees below normal, making it the coldest day of November in the city in three years, the weather office said.

It was the coldest day of the month since November 29, 2022, when Delhi recorded 7.3 degrees Celsius. In 2023, the mercury level was the lowest at 9.2 degrees on November 23, and in 2024, the coldest day was 9.5 degrees on November 29.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted light fog on Monday, with the maximum and minimum temperatures expected to be around 25 and 9 degrees Celsius respectively.

The air quality remained ‘very poor’ on Sunday with the 24-hour average air quality index (AQI) at 377.

According to CPCB’s Sameer App, 11 out of 39 monitoring stations reported AQI levels in the ‘severe’ category with readings above 400.

According to 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’.

Smaller airborne particles such as PM2.5 and PM10 remained the major pollutants.