DailyAQIहिं
Lucknow363Very Poor

Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh · Live air quality

363
AQI · India scale
Very Poor

You're looking at Lucknow's air right now — AQI 363, very poor, driven by PM2.5.

Kendriya Vidyalaya, Lucknow - CPCB · 6 stations · updated

Cities › Uttar Pradesh › Lucknow

Lucknow Air Quality Index (AQI) Today

Live air quality in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh — real-time AQI, dominant pollutant, PM2.5 & PM10 levels and a plain-English health advisory, computed from CPCB data.

#91 most polluted of 298 live citiesDominant pollutant: PM2.5
Is it safe to go out in Lucknow today?

No — Lucknow's AQI is 363 (Very Poor). Avoid outdoor activity, keep windows closed, run a purifier and wear an N95 mask outdoors.

Breathing today's air is roughly like 9 cigarettes a dayA rough PM2.5 equivalence (Berkeley Earth: ~22 µg/m³ ≈ one cigarette) — a rule of thumb, not medical advice.
▼ 19 lower than yesterday

Where 363 sits on the India CPCB scale

363
0GoodModeratePoorSevere500

Lucknow air quality forecast

23°C · wind 8 km/h

Moderate 8 km/h winds are giving average dispersal today.

Today310Very Poorlow 63
Tomorrow212Poorlow 50
Wed225Poorlow 91
00:0006:0012:0018:00

Hourly AQI forecast for the next 24 hours (CPCB scale).

Cleanest air today is forecast around 20:00 (AQI 172) — a good window for outdoor time.

Forecast modelled by Open-Meteo and converted to the CPCB scale. Forecasts are estimates and can change — our live readings above are measured.

What you can do outside right now

Outdoor exercise
Avoid — train indoors
Windows
Keep them closed
Mask outdoors
Wear an N95
Kids’ outdoor play
Keep them indoors
Air purifier
Run it now
Commute
Mask + windows up

General guidance by AQI band. Sensitive groups should act one level earlier.

Live pollutant levels

PM2.5202 µg/m³
Very Poor · index 363
PM10204 µg/m³
Moderate · index 170
O₃50 µg/m³
Good · index 50
NO₂39 µg/m³
Good · index 49
SO₂32 µg/m³
Good · index 40
NH₃15 µg/m³
Good · index 4

Each pollutant's 24-hour concentration is converted to a CPCB sub-index; the city AQI is the highest of them (the dominant pollutant). Bars show the sub-index out of 500.

What this air does to your body

9.2
cigarettes/day equivalent
Breathing today's PM2.5 (202 µg/m³) is roughly like smoking 9.2 cigarettes a day — Berkeley Earth's rule of thumb (22 µg/m³ ≈ 1 cigarette).
−19.3 yr
life-expectancy impact
If this level held all year, it would cut average life expectancy by about 19.3 years versus the WHO guideline (5 µg/m³), per the AQLI method.

Illustrative equivalences from published research (Berkeley Earth; Air Quality Life Index, University of Chicago). Not a medical assessment of your personal risk.

Where the air is cleanest and worst in Lucknow right now

A live comparison of Lucknow's monitoring areas — the cleaner areas are the better choice for outdoor time right now, while the worst are best avoided for exercise. Each figure is a real station reading, not an estimate.

Cleaner areas — where to go

Worst areas — where to avoid

Monitoring stations in Lucknow

6 live CPCB stations, ranked worst air first. Each station's AQI is its own highest pollutant sub-index.

Source: CPCB continuous ambient air-quality monitoring stations via data.gov.in. Station-level values are the latest hourly averages.

24-hour AQI graph

min 161 · max 426
01002003004009pm: AQI 424 (Severe)9pm10pm: AQI 426 (Severe)11pm: AQI 161 (Moderate)12am: AQI 426 (Severe)1am: AQI 424 (Severe)1am2am: AQI 425 (Severe)3am: AQI 425 (Severe)4am: AQI 423 (Severe)5am: AQI 417 (Severe)5am6am: AQI 417 (Severe)7am: AQI 417 (Severe)8am: AQI 404 (Severe)9am: AQI 398 (Very Poor)9am10am: AQI 391 (Very Poor)11am: AQI 391 (Very Poor)12pm: AQI 377 (Very Poor)1pm: AQI 373 (Very Poor)1pm2pm: AQI 370 (Very Poor)3pm: AQI 369 (Very Poor)4pm: AQI 368 (Very Poor)5pm: AQI 367 (Very Poor)5pm6pm: AQI 366 (Very Poor)7pm: AQI 366 (Very Poor)8pm: AQI 363 (Very Poor)8pm

Hourly AQI recorded each hour by DailyAQI (local time). Fills to a rolling 24 hours.

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What Very Poor air means for you

May cause respiratory illness on prolonged exposure; effects more pronounced for people with lung and heart disease.

Health guidance per CPCB National Air Quality Index bands. Informational only — not medical advice.

India's metro cities right now

AQI categories (India scale)

AQICategoryAssociated health impact
0–50GoodAir quality is considered satisfactory and air pollution poses little or no risk.
51–100SatisfactoryAcceptable air quality; minor breathing discomfort possible for unusually sensitive people.
101–200ModerateMay cause breathing discomfort to people with lung disease such as asthma, and to children and older adults.
201–300PoorMay cause breathing discomfort to most people on prolonged exposure.
301–400Very PoorMay cause respiratory illness on prolonged exposure; effects more pronounced for people with lung and heart disease.
401–500SevereAffects healthy people and seriously impacts those with existing diseases; avoid outdoor activity.

Monitoring location

Approximate location of the monitoring station(s) feeding this reading. Map © OpenStreetMap.

About air quality in Lucknow

This page tracks the Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh Air Quality Index using measurements from 6 Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) monitoring stations, published through the Government of India's open-data portal. Right now Lucknow's AQI is 363 (Very Poor), with PM2.5 the dominant pollutant. The AQI is a single number from 0 to 500 that summarises how polluted the air is and what it means for health, built from pollutants such as fine particulate matter (PM2.5), coarse particulate matter (PM10), nitrogen dioxide, ground-level ozone and sulphur dioxide — the index reflects whichever is worst at the time.

How Lucknow's air changes through the year

As a North Indian city, Lucknow sees the country's sharpest seasonal swing. From roughly late October to February, cool and still air with temperature inversions traps emissions close to the ground, and smoke from post-harvest crop-residue burning in Punjab and Haryana — together with festival-season activity around Diwali — pushes the AQI to its yearly peak. The monsoon (June to September) usually brings the cleanest air as rain washes particulates out, with spring and early autumn sitting in between.

What drives air pollution in Lucknow

The main contributors are vehicle exhaust, road and construction dust, industry and power generation, household cooking and heating fuel, and — in the cooler months — seasonal crop-residue burning across the surrounding farmland. Because the region is landlocked, there is little sea breeze to flush pollutants away, so they accumulate night after night during still winter spells.

Cleaner and worse areas within Lucknow

Air quality is not uniform across a city. Among Lucknow's monitoring areas right now, the air is cleanest around B R Ambedkar University, Lucknow and worst around Kendriya Vidyalaya, Lucknow — a reminder that local traffic, industry and construction can make a real difference over just a few kilometres. The live area-by-area comparison above shows where to go and where to avoid at this moment.

Best time to visit Lucknow for cleaner air

If cleaner air matters for your visit, the smog season from November to January has Lucknow's worst air of the year, while the monsoon and the weeks around it, along with spring, are usually far better. Whatever the month, check the live reading on this page before heading out, and pack a well-fitting N95 or FFP2 mask for high-pollution days. Nearby cities with comparatively cleaner air right now include Prayagraj, Agra, Varanasi.

Staying safe in Lucknow's air

When the AQI is in the Good or Satisfactory range, outdoor activity is fine for almost everyone. From Moderate upward, sensitive groups — children, older adults, pregnant people and anyone with asthma or heart disease — should pace themselves outdoors, and once the air turns Poor or worse it is sensible for everyone to limit strenuous outdoor exertion, keep windows closed, run an air purifier indoors and wear a well-fitting mask outside. This is general information rather than medical advice. We only display a number when a recent station reading exists — if you see "data updating", we are waiting on a fresh value rather than showing an estimate.

Air quality near Lucknow

All Uttar Pradesh cities →

The nearest monitored cities to Lucknow, with their live AQI — tap any card for its full report.

Protect your health — air quality guides

Frequently asked questions

What is the AQI in Lucknow today?

The current Air Quality Index in Lucknow is 363 (Very Poor) on the Indian CPCB scale, with PM2.5 as the dominant pollutant.

Is it safe to go outside in Lucknow today?

No — Lucknow's AQI is 363 (Very Poor). Avoid outdoor activity, keep windows closed, run a purifier and wear an N95 mask outdoors.

What is the main pollutant in Lucknow?

Today the dominant pollutant driving Lucknow's AQI is PM2.5. The full pollutant breakdown (PM2.5, PM10, NO₂, O₃, CO, SO₂) is listed above.

How is Lucknow's AQI calculated?

Each pollutant's 24-hour concentration is converted to a sub-index using CPCB breakpoints; the city AQI is the highest sub-index. See our methodology.

What is the air quality forecast for Lucknow tomorrow?

Air in Lucknow is forecast to improve tomorrow to around AQI 212 (Poor), down from about 310 today. Forecasts are modelled estimates (Open-Meteo) and can change.