Delhi’s air quality this past week was severely affected by a combination of haze, fog, and contributing emissions from multiple sources, with farm-fire smoke from nearby regions and festive-season activities (like firecrackers) playing notable roles. Direct answer
- A major contributor to the recent “very poor” air quality in Delhi was the accumulation of pollutants trapped near the surface due to calm winds and dense fog, which reduced vertical mixing and allowed fine particles (PM2.5 and PM10) to build up. This meteorological situation amplified pollution from local sources such as vehicle emissions and residential/commercial burning, while regional agricultural burning also added to the particulate load. The overall effect was a spike in PM2.5 levels and an AQI in the “very poor” range in many monitoring stations.
Context and nuances
- The timing around late October coincided with Diwali celebrations in some years, when firecrackers contribute temporary spikes in pollution, though the relative contributions can vary year to year. In recent reports, official assessments highlighted a mix of transport emissions, regional stubble burning, and localized burning as contributing factors, with weather having a critical amplifying role by limiting dispersion. For Delhi, multiple outlets described the Delhi air as dominated by fog-bound conditions trapping pollutants, leading to widespread “very poor” readings across 33 monitoring stations on some days.
- It’s important to note that attribution can differ slightly by reporting agency and by the exact date within the week, but the common thread across most assessments was the combination of:
- Meteorological stagnation (low wind, temperature inversion, fog)
- Local emissions (vehicles, industry, domestic burning)
- Regional sources (stubble burning in neighboring states) contributing a non-negligible portion of the observed PM load.
If you’d like, I can pull the latest official CPCB/DSS source apportionment figures for the exact day you have in mind and summarize which shares were attributed to “transport,” “industrial,” “agricultural burning,” and “others” for Delhi’s very poor days.
