New Delhi Dust Storm

A sudden burst of strong winds late Wednesday night carried dust from the Thar desert into Delhi, plunging the Capital and its surrounding areas into a 12-hour apocalyptic haze that blanketed the city until early Thursday afternoon.

- Jasjeev Gandhiok

NEW DELHI: The dense cloud of dust sharply reduced visibility, left millions gasping for breath, and triggered a massive spike in pollution levels, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD).

The storm, which again caught forecasters and residents off guard, pushed PM10 levels—particulate matter 10 microns or less in diameter—to dangerously high concentrations. Between 11 pm and noon the next day, Delhi's only two functioning air quality monitors recorded PM10 levels consistently hovering around 1,000 micrograms per cubic metre (µg/m³), more than 10 times the safe limit. At one point, levels at Najafgarh shot up to 2,969 µg/m³.

Visibility dropped precipitously—from 4,500 metres at 10 pm to just 1,200 metres by 11:30 pm—and remained poor into Thursday morning, with wind speeds falling to a near-calm 3-7 km/hr, allowing the dust to linger over Delhi-NCR.