Live air quality monitoring station of the Central Pollution Control Board at Lalbagh and Aliganj showed toxic substances in the atmosphere kept rising all day. The Air Quality Index was 469 micrograms/cubic metre at Aliganj and 463 at Lalbagh. PM2.5 was a prominent pollutant at both locations.

In Delhi, while Anand Vihar reached the maximum AQI at 999, Punjabi Bagh, Mandir Marg and RK Puram recorded 387, 397 and 543 respectively.

Monitoring at five major places in the city by the Indian Institute of Toxicology and Research also showed sharp increase in pollution across the city with Chowk and Indiranagar topping the list. The average PM10 and PM2.5 levels in air were 622.5 and 392.6 micrograms/cubic metre of air, respectively, whereas safe limits according to the National Ambient Air Quality Standards are 100 and 60. Concentration of ultrafine PM1 was also high.

In May, World Health Organization had ranked Lucknow 18th in the list of 20-most polluted cities in the world. At that time, concentration of PM2.5 in the city's air was 113 micrograms/cubic metre, far lower than it was on Sunday and Monday.