Delhi weather today: AQI improves to 'moderate', temperature set to rise

Delhi residents woke up to a pleasant Saturday morning as the Air Quality Index (AQI) improved marginally to 185 at 9 am, entering the “moderate” category. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has also forecast a rise in maximum temperatures in the national capital over the next three days. 

The improvement in air quality comes after Delhi recorded an AQI of 230 on Friday and 244 on Wednesday. However, several monitoring stations across the capital continued to report "poor" air quality, with readings above 200. 

Under the Central Pollution Control Board’s classification, an AQI between 101 and 200 is considered moderate, while readings between 201 and 300 fall in the poor category. 

The Air Quality Early Warning System, operated by the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), has forecast that Delhi’s air quality is likely to remain in the poor category from October 24 to October 26.

The IMD has forecast partly cloudy skies in Delhi on Saturday, with maximum temperatures ranging between 32 degrees Celsius and 34 degrees Celsius and minimum temperatures between 18 degrees Celsius and 20 degrees Celsius. 

The maximum temperature is expected to rise by 1–3 degrees Celsius over the next three days before falling by a similar margin thereafter. 

The weather department has also warned of isolated thunderstorms accompanied by lightning and gusty winds of 30–40 kmph over Delhi on October 24 and 25 in its all-India bulletin, although its Delhi-specific forecast does not indicate rain.

IMD has forecast heavy to very heavy rainfall at isolated places over Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Karaikal, Kerala, and Lakshadweep on Saturday. Heavy rainfall is also likely at isolated places over the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and south interior Karnataka. 

Thunderstorms accompanied by lightning and gusty winds of 40–50 kmph are likely at isolated places over the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Karaikal. Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, Rajasthan and parts of Karnataka are also likely to experience thunderstorms and gusty winds.