Delhi residents woke up to the season’s first fog on Saturday morning following widespread rainfall. Visibility dropped sharply at Safdarjung and Palam airports, while air quality fell to the moderate category. The maximum temperature settled at 27.9°C, which was 3.1 degrees below normal, as weather conditions changed across the city.
New DelhiA day after widespread rainfall was witnessed in Delhi, residents woke up to season's first fog on Saturday morning, with visibility dropping sharply at Safdarjung and Palam airports.
At 6.30am, visibility at Safdarjung was recorded at 500 metres, against 4,000 metres at the same time on Friday. At Palam, it was recorded at 800 metres, down from 4,000 metres a day earlier, according to India Meteorological Department (IMD) data.
As per IMD standards, a fog is considered "shallow" when visibility ranges from 500 metres to 1,000 metres
The air quality on Saturday also deteriorated to the "moderate" category. The 24-hour average air quality index (AQI) was recorded at 117 (moderate) on Saturday, as compared to 60 (satisfactory) on Friday.
The foggy morning came amid a sharp change in weather conditions following Friday's rainfall, which had brought down temperatures and improved air quality across the city. However, temperatures began rising during the day, with the maximum temperature at Safdarjung settling at 27.9°C, 3.1 degrees below normal and 7.2 degrees higher than Friday's reading, according to India Meteorological Department (IMD) data.
The minimum, meanwhile, was recorded at 16.2°C, a notch below the 17.2°C logged on Friday.
According to the IMD's weather observations at 5.30pm, no rainfall was recorded at the five stations between 8.30am and 5.30pm on Saturday. The 24-hour cumulative rainfall till 8.30am stood at 4.2mm at Safdarjung, 3mm at Palam, 4mm at Lodhi Road and 2.1mm each at Ridge and Ayanagar.
Meanwhile, Delhi's air quality data for October showed a significant improvement compared with previous years, according to a report released by the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) on Saturday.
Under Central Pollution Control Board's (CPCB) standards, an AQI of 0-50 is "good", 51-100 "satisfactory", 101-200 "moderate", 201-300 "poor", 301-400 "very poor" and 401-500 "severe".
The monthly average AQI for October this year was logged at 166 (moderate), against 223 (poor) in October 2025, 234 (poor) in 2024 (poor) and 219 (poor) in 2023. This was also the lowest October monthly average since 2021, when the figure stood at 173.
For the period between January 2026 and October, Delhi recorded an average AQI of 167, marginally better than 170 during the corresponding period last year. The average AQI during the period was 184 in 2024, 172 in 2023 and 187 in 2022.
The average PM2.5 concentration between January 1 and October 29 stood at 69 micrograms per cubic metre, compared with 72 micrograms per cubic metre during the corresponding period in 2025. However, the average PM10 concentration increased to 171 micrograms per cubic metre from 166 micrograms per cubic metre last year.