Air Quality Explainers

What nitrogen dioxide is, why it’s highest near busy roads, how WHO, India and EU limits compare, and simple ways to cut your NO2 exposure.

True HEPA, CADR and filter costs explained simply, plus what air purifiers can’t do, so you can pick the right one before smog season.

Your AQI can jump after sunset even when nothing changed. Here’s how temperature inversions, evening traffic and cooking stack up, and how to plan around it.

IMD says the 2026 southwest monsoon will begin withdrawing from Rajasthan around September 19 – two days late – with a 15% nationwide rainfall deficit.

Kuching hit AQI 399 and Sarawak declared an emergency as Indonesia’s 2026 fire season, worsened by a strong El Nino, sends hazardous haze across four countries.

AQI 399 in Malaysia and AQI 900+ in Indonesia can describe similar air. Here’s what AQI really measures, why countries disagree, and how to read it.

A new PNAS study finds pollution rose 24-33% after the US stopped its embassy air-monitoring program in 2025 – including at posts in New Delhi and Mumbai.

Your AQI app shows both PM2.5 and PM10. Here’s what actually separates them, why one matters more for your lungs, and how the official safety limits compare.

Indonesia’s haze crisis has deepened – ISPU hit 1,023, a volcano added ash to wildfire smoke, and illness cases more than doubled since Sept 1, 2026.

Stubble burning gets the blame, but weather does most of the damage. Here’s the plain-language explanation of why Delhi and North India’s air turns toxic each winter.

Washington has declared a statewide wildfire emergency and extended its burn ban through September 30, 2026, as smoke from over 1,000 fires pushes air quality into unhealthy ranges far beyond the fire lines.

HEPA air purifiers can cut indoor PM2.5 by anywhere from 15% to 88% during wildfire smoke events, but the real driver is sizing, sealing, and runtime, not the brand on the box.

Punjab’s farm-fire monitoring season opened September 15, 2026 with the first fires already reported. Here’s what the early data says about the months ahead for Delhi-NCR air quality.

PM2.5 and ground-level ozone are the two pollutants behind most AQI readings, but they form differently, peak at different times, and harm your body differently. Here’s how to tell them apart.