Chennai vs Lucknow
Side-by-side air quality comparison between Chennai and Lucknow.
Live AQI from Open-Meteo CAMS (~45 km global model, updated hourly). Multi-year history from CPCB station data via aqinow.co pipeline (2016–2024, station-level daily records).
AQI Comparison
CPCB Multi-Year History (2016–2024)
Summary
Overview
In 2024, Chennai averaged an AQI of 68 while Lucknow averaged 127 — a 59-point (87%) gap, with Lucknow the more polluted and Chennai the cleaner of the two. On 2277 days when both cities reported, Chennai was cleaner on 1912 of them; the average daily gap was 130 AQI points.
Seasonality & days
Chennai peaks in December, while Lucknow peaks in November. Chennai logged 0% Severe days and 57.5% Good-or-Satisfactory days; Lucknow was 6.6% Severe and 19.4% Good-or-Satisfactory. Longest clean-air streaks: Chennai 53 days, Lucknow 45 days.
Year-over-year progress
Chennai has improved by 25 AQI points (26.9%) from 2017 to 2024; Lucknow has improved by 89 AQI points (41.2%) over the same window. The worst recorded day for Chennai reached AQI 391 at Kodungaiyur (TNPCB) on 2021-05-14; Lucknow hit AQI 500 at Lalbagh (CPCB) on 2017-11-09.
Station-level disparity
Chennai spans 9 CPCB stations with a 27-point spread (min 63, max 90); Lucknow spans 7 stations with a 119-point spread (min 97, max 216).