City numbers are CAMS model output, not station measurements; measured figures say so. Anything after Nov 12 morning is marked forecast.
About this story
One bad week, watched from above.
Delhi NCR, November 7-14, 2026. Diwali smoke, farm fires to the northwest, and a wind that carries it all in.
Not a video - a real map driven by a timeline you can scrub. The colored dots follow an atmospheric model hour by hour; measured figures are labeled as measured, and anything ahead of Thursday morning is marked forecast.
Why every November? Cool, slow air traps smoke near the ground; the season's stubble fires in Punjab and Haryana send more of it in; and the city adds its own traffic, dust and industry underneath. The mix is familiar - the dose is the story.
The haze veil and wind arrows are visual impressions; the city dots and their colors follow the model data hour by hour.
haze - a map story, November 12, 2026. Sound off. Nothing saved. Model values are labeled model; forecasts are labeled forecast.
What this is
The Delhi-NCR air emergency of the second week of November 2026, told on the map it happened over. It begins with Stage III curbs on November 7, passes through Diwali night on November 8, looks northwest at the farm-fire belt, follows the wind back into the city, and ends with the forecast for the weekend. The week is real; the future hours are a forecast.
Good to know
- The six city dots show hourly US AQI and PM2.5 from the CAMS atmospheric model (via Open-Meteo), fetched the morning of November 12. A model smooths; real stations read spikier.
- The measured anchor: Delhi's AQI stood at 313 at 1 a.m. on November 12, 'very poor', per the Commission for Air Quality Management as reported by India.com.
- Punjab recorded 5,002 stubble fires this season against 4,195 last year (Times of India, Nov 10); 1,152 of them burned on Diwali day alone, the season's highest single-day count (NewsDrum). The fire dots on the map are a schematic scatter for scale, not incident coordinates; farm fires' share of Delhi's PM2.5 was expected to reach about 20% on November 12 (TOI).
- GRAP Stage III was invoked on November 7; NCR schools up to Class 5 moved to hybrid mode from November 12 (Times of India, Economic Times, Hindustan Times).
- No rain is in sight and cloud seeding is being weighed (India.com, Nov 12). The last two days on the timeline are model forecast.
Steps
Sources
- CAMS air-quality model via Open-Meteo - hourly US AQI and PM2.5 for the six cities, Nov 7-14.
- India.com, Nov 12 - CAQM's 1 a.m. reading of 313; no rain; cloud-seeding question.
- Times of India, Nov 10 - 5,002 Punjab farm fires this season vs 4,195 last year.
- NewsDrum, Nov 9 - 1,152 fires on Diwali alone, the season's highest single-day count.
- Times of India, Nov 12 - firecracker share after Diwali; farm-fire share rising toward 20%.
- Times of India, Nov 7 - GRAP Stage III and hybrid classes.
- Economic Times liveblog, Nov 12 - schools hybrid across NCR from today.
Before you rely on it
This is a story about a week, not an air-quality reading for right now. For the current official AQI and health advisories, go to the CPCB and the CAQM. Model values here will drift from any single station, and the forecast hours will drift from what actually happens.