Delhi's air turns 'hazardous'—and it's not just the city struggling

India Nov 25, 2025

Delhi woke up to seriously bad air again, with the AQI hitting a "Very Poor" 364 on Tuesday—even after pricey attempts like cloud seeding.
Some spots, like Anand Vihar and Wazirpur, are even worse, touching AQI levels over 400.
The pollution isn't stopping at city limits either; Noida and Gurugram are also seeing dangerous numbers.

What's making things worse?

While everyone is talking about the smog, there's also volcanic ash from Ethiopia's Hayli Gubbi volcano floating high above Delhi right now.
But according to IMD chief M Mohapatra, this ash is way up in the atmosphere and won't really mess with air quality on the ground—so most of what we're breathing is still local pollution.