Delhi Battles Worsening Air Quality as Cloud Seeding Efforts Delayed

On 2025-10-28T06:28:52+00:00, Delhi-NCR is grappling with worsening air quality since the Diwali festival. In response, the Delhi government is expected to attempt cloud seeding on Tuesday, October 28th, if the weather conditions are favorable.

Earlier, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) had forecast cloud cover for Monday and Tuesday. However, the cloud seeding could not be undertaken on Monday as ministers were busy with Chhath celebrations. Officials state that cloud seeding might not be possible on Tuesday morning due to the ongoing rituals, but it will be done if the weather conditions are favorable in the evening.

The cloud seeding process, where silver iodide is dispersed over clouds to artificially induce rain, has been delayed several times in the capital this year due to weather-related challenges. The BJP-led Delhi government conducted its first trial with the help of IIT Kanpur on October 23rd, which CM Rekha Gupta called "a historic step."

Meanwhile, the contribution of farm fires to Delhi's PM 2.5 levels is expected to increase in the coming days. According to the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology's Decision Support System, the contribution has remained uneven, ranging from 1% to 3.45% since Diwali on October 20th. The forecast shows that this contribution could reach 5.87% by Wednesday, October 30th.

The Indian Agriculture Research Institute (IARI) reported that 189 residue burning events have been detected by satellites, with the highest being 147 in Punjab, followed by 7 in Haryana, 4 in Uttar Pradesh, and the rest in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. Since September 15th, a total of 2,965 burning events have been detected in these states.