Record broken in December, Delhi's air cleanest in 10 years!
delhi recorded the cleanest air in december since the introduction of the AQI system in 2015. The average air quality index in december 2024 was 294. Officials said that this improvement can be attributed to strong and continuous winds in the first half of the month and record rainfall in the second half. According to the data of the central pollution control board (CPCB), december was the cleanest month so far for delhi, in which only one day between december 1 and december 15 was recorded in the 'very poor' category.
AQI was 173 on december 30
On Monday, the air Quality Index (AQI) was 173, which falls in the 'moderate' category. This was much better than Sunday's 225 (poor). This was the eighth moderate air quality day of this month. The lowest AQI this month was recorded at 139 on december 28, which was the cleanest day of December. The average AQI during this period was 238, which is much lower than the normal AQI of 300 for this time of the year.
Delhi's average AQI was 348 last december, 319 in 2022 and 336 in 2021. Earlier, the lowest AQI for december was 300, which was recorded in 2015. The month is set to end with at least 53.5 mm of rainfall, making it the fifth rainiest december since 1901.
delhi recorded the highest single-day rainfall in december in 101 years with 41.2 mm on december 28 (Friday). This year, delhi received six days of rain in december, while it rained only on one day in 2023, not even for a single day in 2022, four days in 2021 and one day in december 2020. A total of 53.5 mm of rain was recorded in delhi this month, including 41.2 mm in one day.
According to the india Meteorological Department (IMD), the highest ever rainfall on a single day in december was 75.7 mm, which was recorded on december 3, 1923. The highest AQI of 451 was recorded on december 19. The AQI is considered 'good' between zero to 50, 'satisfactory' between 51 to 100, 'moderate' between 101 to 200, 'poor' between 201 to 300, 'very poor' between 301 to 400, and 'severe' between 400 to 500.