Diwali air quality: live tracker

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Good Air shows the US AQI first, the same scale as the Good Air app, with India's official National AQI (NAQI) beside it. CPCB's daily bulletin figures below are NAQI, and say so.

Replay it hour by hour: the Diwali 2026 pollution map plays back every CPCB monitor's US AQI from Diwali morning, for Delhi NCR, any state or all of India.

• 9 November, 11:30 IST: The smoke peaked after midnight. Across Delhi's reporting monitors the median US AQI rose from 292 at 7:30 pm to 1,398 around 12:30 am, and was still 466 (Hazardous) at 7:30 am; 56 of 59 NCR monitors passed 500 in at least one hour. CPCB's Sameer app showed 368 (Very Poor, India's 24-hour NAQI) at 7:05 am (ETV Bharat, 9 November). Hour by hour and monitor by monitor: Delhi AQI after Diwali 2026. The full cracker ban returns today.
• 9 November, 00:07 IST: Delhi reads US AQI 903 at 11:30 pm (India's NAQI 500, the top of CPCB's index), its worst reading of the night so far and up from 813 an hour earlier. 28 of its 32 reporting monitors are Hazardous; Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range reads 1,834, Karala 1,694 and JNU 1,690. Noida reads 1,249, Ghaziabad 946, Gurugram 690 and Faridabad 628. Across India, 250 of 447 monitors are Hazardous and 186 above 500.
• 9 November, 00:07 IST: Elsewhere at 11:30 pm: Indore 1,544, Bhopal 1,195 and Patna 1,035, all rising; Pune 906, Ahmedabad 848, Mumbai 647 (up from 501) and Jaipur 600. Kolkata holds at 418. Chennai (344), Hyderabad (271) and Bengaluru (181) are well below the north. The worst single cities are in the NCR belt and Haryana: Ballabgarh 1,635, Baraut 1,631, Yamuna Nagar 1,611 and Khora 1,592.
• 9 November, 00:05 IST: The smoke is still building in the north and west. At 11 pm, 258 of 445 CPCB monitors reporting were Hazardous on the US AQI (above 300), and 185 were above 500. Delhi reads US AQI 813, up from 648 at 10 pm (India's NAQI: 493, Severe); 35 of its 43 reporting monitors are Hazardous, led by ITO at 1,832, NSUT Jaffarpur 1,828, Patparganj 1,704 and Karala 1,653. Noida reads 1,058, Ghaziabad 1,037, Faridabad 803 and Gurugram 614.
• 9 November, 00:05 IST: The west and centre rose late. Pune reads 998, Ahmedabad 963, Bhopal 894, Patna 840 and Jaipur 624. Visakhapatnam's single monitor read 1,515. Mumbai rose to 501 and Kolkata to 405. The south is clearing: Chennai fell from 766 at 10 pm to 307 and Puducherry from 886 to 221, a few hours after Tamil Nadu's 7 to 8 pm window. Single-hour readings past 500 come from very high PM2.5 at one monitor in one hour; the 24-hour averages CPCB publishes at 4 pm will be far lower.
• 8 November, 23:00 IST: Diwali night has turned Hazardous across much of India. At 10 pm, 241 of 478 CPCB monitors reporting were above 300 on the US AQI (Hazardous), and 165 were above 500. Delhi reads US AQI 648, up from 240 at 7:30 pm (India's NAQI: 460, Severe). 42 of its 55 reporting monitors are Hazardous and 33 are above 500, among them North Campus, CRRI Mathura Road, Nangloi, Jharoda Kalan, Burari Crossing and Karala. Noida reads 909, Ghaziabad 817, Faridabad 552 and Gurugram 380; all seven Noida monitors are Hazardous.
• 8 November, 23:00 IST: It is not only the north. Puducherry reads US AQI 886 and Chennai 766. Bhopal 631, Pune 551, Ahmedabad 514, Hyderabad 475, Patna 401 and Jaipur 361 are all Hazardous. Mumbai jumped from 112 at 7:30 pm to 288 (Very Unhealthy), with Shivaji Nagar, Chembur and Kandivali West above 500; Lucknow is at 289, Kolkata 249 and Bengaluru 195 (Unhealthy). These are single-hour readings, so they rise and fall quickly; tomorrow's 24-hour figures will be lower than tonight's peaks but will carry tonight's smoke.
• 8 November, 20:30 IST: At 7:30 pm the worst air among India's big cities is in the south, not the north. Chennai reads US AQI 579 (Hazardous; India's NAQI 446), after Tamil Nadu's evening cracker window of 7 to 8 pm. All three of its monitors reporting are Severe on India's NAQI: Manali 500, Manali Village 481 and Perungudi 448. Puducherry reads US AQI 380. In CPCB's 4 pm bulletin, which averages the past 24 hours on India's NAQI, Chennai was only 138 (Moderate) and Puducherry 77 (Satisfactory) (CPCB, 8 November). These live readings are single hours and move fast; the 24-hour figure will catch up overnight.
• 8 November, 20:30 IST: Delhi reads US AQI 240 (Very Unhealthy; India's NAQI 335) from 59 monitors at 7:30 pm, before its own 8 to 10 pm green-cracker window. Ten Delhi monitors are already Severe on India's NAQI: Jahangirpuri 440, Nehru Nagar 435, Burari Crossing 430 and Pusa 426 lead. Loni in Ghaziabad reads NAQI 421. Across India, 30 of 512 CPCB monitors read Severe on India's NAQI.
• 8 November, 20:30 IST: CPCB's 4 pm bulletin, on India's 24-hour NAQI, puts Delhi's Diwali-day average at 376 (Very Poor), up from 369 on Saturday. Of the last nine Diwalis, only 2020 (414) and 2021 (382) started worse (table below). Ghaziabad 344 and Noida 318 are Very Poor; Faridabad 291, Gurugram 288 and Lucknow 233 are Poor. Mumbai 132, Kolkata 162 and Patna 186 are Moderate; Bengaluru 70 and Hyderabad 84 Satisfactory (CPCB, 8 November).
• 8 November, 11:45 IST: After the first night of green crackers, 24 of Delhi's 54 monitors were above 400 on India's NAQI on Diwali morning, with Jahangirpuri worst at 450, and the Early Warning System forecast Severe air for 8 and 9 November (The Week, 8 November).

Next updates: after CPCB's 4 pm bulletin on 9 and 10 November.

Cracker rules tonight

• Delhi NCR: certified green crackers only, from 8 to 10 pm on 7 and 8 November (and 6 to 7 am). The full ban returns on 9 November (Courtbook, 2 November). GRAP Stage III has been in force since 6 November (Delhi tracker).
• Tamil Nadu: crackers allowed for two hours on Deepavali, 6 to 7 am and 7 to 8 pm, green crackers only, no series crackers, and none near hospitals, schools, courts or places of worship (Deccan Chronicle; The Hans India, 5 November).

Full rules for other states: Diwali 2026 air quality guide.

Past Diwalis in Delhi

Delhi's 24-hour AQI on India's official NAQI, from CPCB's 4 pm bulletin on Diwali and the two days after. These are NAQI figures, not US AQI: CPCB publishes only its own index. The morning after Diwali is usually worse than Diwali day itself, because the night's smoke enters the next day's average.

In seven of the eight past years the day after was worse than Diwali day; the exception was 2022.

What to expect tomorrow and the day after

• Tonight: smoke builds after the cracker windows and usually peaks between midnight and 3 am, when the air near the ground is coldest and stillest (our hourly analysis). Keep windows shut and a purifier on if you have one.
• Monday 9 November: Delhi's Early Warning System forecast Severe air for 8 and 9 November (The Week). If CPCB's 24-hour NAQI passes 400, watch for CAQM to consider GRAP Stage IV, which applies above 450 on that index (what each stage does). We will post the 4 pm bulletin here.
• Tuesday 10 November: whether the smoke clears depends on wind. IMD's Delhi forecast showed no rain to 9 November (IMD New Delhi).

Protect yourself tonight

• Check the monitor nearest you in the list above; readings within one city can differ by more than 100 points in the same hour.
• Stay indoors after the cracker windows, with windows and doors shut. Run a HEPA purifier in the bedroom.
• Wear a well-fitted N95 or FFP2 mask if you go out; cloth masks do little against fine smoke.
• Skip the dawn walk on 9 November. Early afternoon is usually the cleanest time of day.
• People with asthma, heart disease, older adults and young children are most at risk. More in our Diwali health guide.