Punjab Weather Forecast : The air quality index was recorded in the 'poor' category at many places in Haryana and Punjab on Saturday. According to the 'Sameer' app, which gives hourly updates of the national Air Quality Index (AQI), the AQI in Chandigarh, the joint capital of the two states, also remained in the 'poor' category.

There was a slight improvement in the air quality in some places including Gurugram, Jind, Ambala and Kurukshetra in Haryana, but it was still recorded in the 'poor' category. On the day after Diwali, i.e. Friday (November 1), the AQI at these places was in the 'very poor' category. 

Where was the AQI?
At 9 am on Saturday (November 2), the AQI was recorded at 212 in Gurugram, 285 in Jind, 224 in Ambala and 262 in Kurukshetra, while 24 hours ago it was 344, 340, 308 and 304 respectively. Other places in Haryana like Bahadurgarh had the air quality index at 218, Bhiwani at 224, Charkhi Dadri at 229, Fatehabad at 224, Hisar at 204, Karnal at 277, Sirsa at 251 and Yamunanagar at 243. The AQI in Haryana's Sonipat was 324, which falls in the 'very poor' category.

An AQI between zero and 50 is considered 'good', 51 and 100 'satisfactory', 101 and 200 'moderate', 201 and 300 'poor', 301 and 400 'very poor', 401 and 450 'severe' and above 450 'severe'. The AQI in Chandigarh was 289 on Saturday, while it was 303 on Friday.

AQI in Mandi Gobindgarh improves in 24 hours
The air quality index in Punjab's Amritsar remained in the 'very poor' category. It deteriorated from 314 at 9 am on Friday to 346 on Saturday. However, the AQI in Mandi Gobindgarh improved to 206 in 24 hours as against 331 on Friday. The AQI was 239 in Jalandhar, 206 in Khanna, 291 in Ludhiana and 231 in Patiala. A total of 587 cases of stubble burning were reported in Punjab on Friday (November 1), which is the highest this season.