A thick layer of fog continued to cover parts of Delhi on Monday, January 19. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) predicted light to dense fog and “partly cloudy skies” in the early hours and issued a yellow warning.
“Partly cloudy sky. Light fog at many places with dense fog at isolated places during morning hours,” the IMD forecast for Delhi-NCR in its daily weather bulletin.
On Monday, the minimum temperature in Delhi is likely to hover between 7-9°C and the maximum temperature around 24-26°C. On Sunday, the minimum temperature in Delhi settled at 5.3°C while the maximum was 22.7°C.
Heavy rainfall/snowfall on…
The IMD has predicted that heavy rainfall will occur in some parts of the country around January 23. “Two western disturbances in quick succession are likely to affect the western Himalayan region during the next week with a possibility of isolated heavy rains/snowfall on January 23,” the IMD said.
1. Isolated to scattered Light to moderate rainfall/snowfall likely over Jammu-Kashmir-Ladakh-Gilgit-Baltistan Muzaffarabad, Himachal Pradesh during 18-21. January.
2. Fairly widespread to widespread rainfall/snowfall during 22-24 January, with isolated heavy falls over Kashmir-Ladakh-Gilgit-Baltistan-Muzaffarabad and upper reaches of Himachal Pradesh on 23 January.
3. Isolated to scattered light to moderate rainfall/snowfall likely over Uttarakhand on 18, 21 and 22 January and fairly widespread during 23-24 January. January.
4. Isolated to scattered Light to moderate rainfall over Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan during 22-24. January.
5. Thunderstorm activity is likely over Uttarakhand on January 23 and 24; Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi and Rajasthan on 22nd and 23rd January.
“Very light rain/drizzle accompanied by strong surface wind reaching 20-30 kmph likely on January 23, 2026,” the IMD said.
Delhi AQI
Delhi’s air quality index was recorded in the ‘severe’ category early on Monday, with the overall AQI recorded at 418. GRAP-4 restrictions have been imposed in the national capital as it continues to face a severe air pollution crisis.
According to data released by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), the AQI was recorded at 439 at 7 am on Sunday. “The situation worsened overnight, at 10 pm on Saturday, the AQI was recorded at 432, placing it in the ‘severe’ category, before further deteriorating early Sunday morning,” the report said.
The city’s AQI is expected to be in the “very poor” range from Monday to January 21 due to a lower ventilation index of 6,000 units with an average wind speed of 10 kmph – not conducive to dispersal of pollutants, news agency PTI reported.
Delhi sees ‘most polluted January day in 2 years’
Delhi’s AQI dipped deeper into the most toxic “severe” zone on Sunday, giving the city its most polluted January day in two years and its worst air in the second half of the month since 2019, Hindustan Times reported.
The national capital recorded an AQI of 440 at 4 pm on Sunday, according to the Central Pollution Control Board’s (CPCB) daily bulletin. A reading significantly worse than 400 on Saturday and the highest in a month since 447 on January 14, 2024, the report added.
It is also the first time the AQI has been 400 or more for two consecutive days during this period since late January 2016.
All previous January highs, including the all-time high of 460 recorded on January 15, 2021, came in the first half of the month. The city did not experience a single heavy aviation day in January of last year.
Sunday also marked Delhi’s first high air quality day of the year and the first since December 29, 2025, when the reading was 401. It was also the second worst winter this year, after a high of 461 on December 14, the Times of India reported.
