Chennai vs Varanasi
Side-by-side air quality comparison between Chennai and Varanasi.
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 Varanasi averaged 56 — a 12-point (21%) gap, with Chennai the more polluted and Varanasi the cleaner of the two. On 2145 days when both cities reported, Chennai was cleaner on 1288 of them; the average daily gap was 84 AQI points.
Seasonality & days
Chennai peaks in December, while Varanasi peaks in January. Chennai logged 0% Severe days and 57.5% Good-or-Satisfactory days; Varanasi was 2.8% Severe and 36% Good-or-Satisfactory. Longest clean-air streaks: Chennai 53 days, Varanasi 87 days.
Year-over-year progress
Chennai has improved by 25 AQI points (26.9%) from 2017 to 2024; Varanasi has improved by 169 AQI points (75.1%) over the same window. The worst recorded day for Chennai reached AQI 391 at Kodungaiyur (TNPCB) on 2021-05-14; Varanasi hit AQI 500 at Ardhali Bazar (UPPCB) on 2017-07-11.
Station-level disparity
Chennai spans 9 CPCB stations with a 27-point spread (min 63, max 90); Varanasi spans 4 stations with a 94-point spread (min 71, max 165).