Lahore AQI This Week, 9 to 15 November 2026: 39 Hours Hazardous, Worst 489, Best 104 on Friday
Lahore's AQI was above 400 for 39 hours from 9 to 15 November 2026, peaking at 489 on Monday. Friday fell to 104. Day by day worst, best and average hours.
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Short answer: Lahore's air was Hazardous, above 400 on Punjab's AQI scale, for 39 hours between Monday 9 and Sunday 15 November 2026. The worst hour was 489 at 9 am on Monday. The best was 104 at 8 am on Friday 13 November.
We counted every hour in the seven day record on Punjab EPA's official dashboard, aqi.punjab.gov.pk, for Lahore. The record ran from midnight on Monday to 2 pm on Sunday, 159 hourly readings in all.
The week split into two halves. Monday to Thursday were the worst days of this week. Friday brought the cleanest morning of the week. Saturday and Sunday sat in between.
Lahore spent 39 hours in the Hazardous band this week
Lahore's AQI was above 400, the Hazardous band, for 39 of the 159 hours on the record. All 39 fell between Monday and Thursday. Wednesday 11 November alone had 17 Hazardous hours.
On Punjab EPA's scale, Hazardous runs from 401 to 500. It is the top band. The agency's advice at that level is for everyone, not only the sick, to avoid outdoor activity.
Above 300, the Very Unhealthy band or worse, the count is far higher. Lahore was above 300 for 87 hours, more than half the week. That is our own count from the hourly record.
Day by day: Wednesday was the worst day, Friday the best
Wednesday had the highest daily average, 396, from 24 hourly readings. Friday had the lowest, 202. These averages are our arithmetic from the dashboard's hourly figures, not an official daily AQI.
| Day | Worst hour | Best hour | Average of hourly AQI | Hours above 400 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mon 9 Nov | 489 at 9 am | 186 at 5 pm | 364 | 9 |
| Tue 10 Nov | 439 at 11 pm | 224 at 5 pm | 334 | 3 |
| Wed 11 Nov | 458 at 10 am | 254 at 4 pm | 396 | 17 |
| Thu 12 Nov | 449 at midnight | 250 at 1 pm | 369 | 10 |
| Fri 13 Nov | 363 at 11 pm | 104 at 8 am | 202 | 0 |
| Sat 14 Nov | 345 at 10 pm | 158 at 3 pm | 245 | 0 |
| Sun 15 Nov, to 2 pm | 313 at midnight | 168 at 2 pm | 260 | 0 |
Sunday's row covers only 15 hours, so its average is not a full day. The pattern in the table is clear though. The best hour of each day came in the afternoon, between 1 pm and 5 pm, on six of the seven days.
Friday morning fell to 104, the cleanest hour of the week
Lahore's AQI dropped from 358 at midnight on Friday to 104 at 8 am. From 7 am to 5 pm it stayed between 104 and 127, in the Moderate band. That window came straight after the rain NDMA had forecast for Lahore on 12 and 13 November.
The NDMA advisory, covered in the rain and snow alert for 12 to 14 November, listed Lahore among 19 Punjab areas due for rain. The clean spell did not last. By 11 pm on Friday, Lahore was back at 363.
Lahore's air gets worse after dark, so time your day by it
The worst hour fell between 9 pm and 10 am on all seven days. Readings climbed through the evening and stayed high until mid morning. So the hours from about noon to 5 pm were the safest time to be outdoors.
- Check the Lahore reading on the dashboard before you leave. It updates every hour and shows the time of the last reading.
- Do outdoor errands, school runs on foot and exercise in the early afternoon where you can.
- Close windows from early evening to mid morning. Lahore's readings rose after 6 pm on Friday and Saturday.
- Keep an N95 or KN95 mask for the morning commute. Cloth masks do little against fine particles.
- Keep children, older people and anyone with asthma or heart disease indoors on Hazardous days.
Advice for each band, including when it is safe to walk or run, is in whether you can exercise outside in smog. To see which part of the city is worst, check Lahore AQI by area, which covers all 11 stations.
Sunday afternoon fell below 200 for the first time since Saturday
Lahore was at 184 at noon on Sunday, 175 at 1 pm and 168 at 2 pm. Those three hours were the first below 200 since Saturday afternoon. Before that, the city had been above 270 from 8 pm on Saturday to 8 am on Sunday.
Saturday's figures for every Punjab city are in our report on the Punjab AQI on 14 November and the dashboard itself. A low afternoon is not a sign the smog season is over. Each clean spell this month has been followed by a bad night.
Common questions
What was Lahore's worst AQI this week?
489 at 9 am on Monday 9 November, in the Hazardous band, on Punjab EPA's hourly record.
How many hours was Lahore's air Hazardous this week?
39 hours above 400, all between Monday and Thursday. Wednesday had the most, 17 hours.
When was Lahore's air cleanest this week?
At 8 am on Friday 13 November, when the AQI read 104. It stayed Moderate until about 5 pm.
What time of day is Lahore's air best?
This week, the best hour came between 1 pm and 5 pm on six of seven days. Nights and mornings were worst.
Are these official daily averages?
No. Punjab EPA shows hourly readings. The daily averages and hour counts here are our own arithmetic from those readings.
How we verified this
What we checked and where we read it.
We read Lahore's seven day hourly record on Punjab EPA's air quality dashboard on 15 November 2026 at about 2:30 pm, with Lahore selected as the district. It listed every hour from midnight on 9 November to 2 pm on 15 November and showed the week's maximum as 489 at 9 am on 9 November and the minimum as 104 at 8 am on 13 November. Daily averages, hour counts and the best and worst hour of each day are our own arithmetic from those 159 readings. Band ranges are from Punjab EPA's health advisory page. The rain forecast is from NDMA's weather advisory of 10 November 2026, as recorded in our earlier report.
About the author
Global Affairs & Political Economy Writer
Muhammad Hatim is a book lover who started writing because he enjoys it. At Pakistan Era he writes about international relations, geopolitics and the global economy, with a particular interest in South Asia and the forces behind current events.
