VARANASI: Varanasi's air quality moved into the Poor category on Sunday, November 8, 2026, with a city Air Quality Index of 224 in the Central Pollution Control Board's 4 pm IST bulletin. The category change is a new development after the Moderate readings as reported earlier on dalimss.news. The official figure was 175 on November 7.
Residents in Bhelupur, around BHU and elsewhere in the city can check the board's live portal before making outdoor plans. The bulletin provides a city average, so 224 should not be read as a measurement at every street or neighbourhood. It records participation by all four of Varanasi's monitoring stations.
The reporting time matters: the November 8 figure represents the average over the preceding 24 hours at 4 pm IST. It does not measure the whole of Sunday night or establish the air quality on Monday morning. The bulletin also does not attribute the increase to any particular activity or source of emissions.
City index rises 49 points in a day
The November 7 and November 8 official bulletins show a rise from 175 to 224, an increase of 49 index points. Four of four stations contributed on both days. This makes the comparison different from one in which a change in the number of reporting stations accompanies the change in the city figure.
On November 6, the city reading was 147, also with all four stations participating. Across the three bulletins, the index rose by 28 points between November 6 and 7, then by another 49 points on November 8. These are changes in the index, rather than percentage changes in a measured pollutant concentration.
| Bulletin at 4 pm IST | Varanasi AQI | Category | Stations |
|---|---|---|---|
| November 6, 2026 | 147 | Moderate | 4 of 4 |
| November 7, 2026 | 175 | Moderate | 4 of 4 |
| November 8, 2026 | 224 | Poor | 4 of 4 |
PM10 was listed as the prominent pollutant on November 6 and November 7. The November 8 city row lists both PM2.5 and PM10. The table identifies the pollutants associated with the index but does not provide their individual concentrations in that row.
What residents should do
Use the dated official bulletin when comparing days, and the board's air quality portal when looking for a more current reading. Check the observation time alongside the number. A Sunday afternoon bulletin and a later live observation cover different reporting periods and should be labelled accordingly.
CPCB's category scale places Moderate between 101 and 200 and Poor between 201 and 300. Its accompanying health statement says prolonged exposure in the Poor category can cause breathing discomfort for most people. This is the board's general description of the category, rather than a report that a particular number of Varanasi residents became ill.
The remaining bands on the same scale are Good at 0 to 50, Satisfactory at 51 to 100, Very Poor at 301 to 400 and Severe at 401 to 500. Varanasi's November 8 result is in the Poor band.
The board also cautions that air quality can vary between monitoring locations. It uses an average to present a simple city indicator while acknowledging the limitations of that approach. Residents looking for conditions near a particular monitoring location should consult the station information rather than assume the city average describes their immediate surroundings.
Weather bulletin keeps a dry outlook through November 14
Separately, the India Meteorological Department's Uttar Pradesh bulletin, issued at 3 pm IST on November 8, forecasts dry weather in eastern Uttar Pradesh through November 14. It indicates shallow fog at isolated places in its November 9 entry, with no weather warning for either division of the state across its seven day forecast.
The forecast entries have a stated validity from 8:30 am IST on the named day until 8:30 am the following day. The November 9 entry mentions shallow morning fog at isolated places. Readers checking an early journey should look at the applicable validity period as well as the issue date.
The same bulletin says night temperatures in Varanasi division were above normal on November 8. The division includes Varanasi, Chandauli, Ghazipur and Jaunpur, so this statement describes a wider area than a single city station. Its definition of above normal is a departure of 1.6 to 3 degrees Celsius. It expects no large change in maximum or minimum temperatures over the following seven days. These are weather observations and forecasts; they do not identify the cause of the air quality increase.
Earlier local coverage includes the November 4 air quality reading and the earlier dry weather outlook. For current decisions, use the dates and issue times on the newer official bulletins.
