Though it has started raining in Delhi which had led to humidity and traffic, but certainly the rain has cleared Delhi's air.

As Delhiites witnessed cleanest day after a gap of 281 days as the Air Quality Index (AQI) dipped to 79 in 'satisfactory' category on Thursday. This was also the first 'satisfactory' day of the year. Rain and strong winds helped in cleaning the air quality.

Central Pollution Control Board's data shows that a lower AQI than Thursday was seen on Sept 19 last year when it was 73. Sept 2023 had witnessed nine 'satisfactory' days and one 'good' day when AQI touched 45 on Sept 10.

Oct last year saw one 'satisfactory' day with an AQI of 89 on Oct 17. However, no 'satisfactory' day was seen between Oct 18, 2023 and June 26 this year.

The air quality mostly remained in 'poor' to 'moderate' category this summer season. Experts said as local and regional sources of pollution remained high and intense rain was missing the city, the dry spell led to worse air quality.