Delhi air cleanest this year after rain, temperatures dip; yellow alert for Thursday

2 min readJul 8, 2026 09:19 PM IST

The weather department has issued a yellow alert for the city for Thursday too. (ANI Photo)

Successive spells of rain over the past two days have sharply improved Delhi’s air quality, with the Capital recording its cleanest air of the year so far.

At 59, Delhi’s Air Quality Index (AQI) was in the ‘Satisfactory’ category around 4 pm on Wednesday — the lowest reading recorded at 4 pm in 2026 so far. The previous low this year, at 73, was recorded on June 12, according to the Central Pollution Control Board data.

So far in July, Delhi has recorded ‘Satisfactory’ air quality (AQI between 51 and 100) on three days, while it was ‘Moderate’ (AQI between 101 and 200) on the rest of the days. June had three days with ‘Satisfactory’ AQI, with the monthly average AQI standing at 141.

The Ridge weather station recorded 54.3 mm of rainfall during the past 24 hours, taking July’s figure so far to 79.1 mm — about 154 per cent above normal for the period. Ayanagar recorded 51 mm of rainfall so far this month, around 45 per cent above its long-period normal of 35.1 mm. Gurgaon, meanwhile, recorded 83 mm of rainfall till Wednesday morning.

Delhi’s base station at Safdarjung has recorded 31.52 mm of rainfall so far this month against the city’s July normal of 209.7 mm, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD).

The weather department has issued a yellow alert for the city for Thursday too.

The rain also brought a sharp drop in temperatures on Wednesday. At Safdarjung, the maximum temperature settled at 30.8 degree Celsius, 5.8 degrees below normal and 6.4 notches below Tuesday’s reading. The minimum temperature stood at 25.4 degrees, 4.6 degrees lower than Tuesday. Maximum temperatures fell by 9.4 degree Celsius in Gurgaon, while the minimum dipped by up to 4.8 degrees.

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According to the IMD, the widespread rainfall has been driven by a well-marked low-pressure area over northwest Madhya Pradesh and adjoining southwest Uttar Pradesh, along with favourable conditions for the further advance of the southwest monsoon. The weather office has forecast generally cloudy skies with more spells of light rain and thunderstorms for Thursday.