Smog continued to blanket several parts of Punjab on Saturday, with the Environmental Protection Agency recording hazardous and unhealthy air quality at multiple monitoring stations, while the Pakistan Meteorological Department forecast largely dry conditions, diminishing hopes of early respite.
The EPA’s monitoring data, updated at 6pm on Saturday, showed the Air Quality Index at Lahore’s Wagah Border station at 500, classified as hazardous, while Barki Road reported an unhealthy reading of 288. Punjab University and GT Road were comparatively better at 149 and 148. The concentration of PM10 particles at Wagah Border reached 683.5 micrograms per cubic metre.
On IQAir’s live monitoring platform, Lahore recorded a US AQI reading of 275 on Saturday morning, improving to 172 by the evening, although air quality remained in the unhealthy category. At 10pm the city ranked fifth on IQAir’s list of the world’s most polluted major cities, with a US AQI of 204.
The pollution extended well beyond the provincial capital. The EPA’s provincial ranking placed Vehari at the top with a reading of 369, followed by Multan at 354, Sahiwal at 329, Gujranwala at 323, Sheikhupura at 284 and Kot Addu at 271. The Meteorological Department said dry weather was expected in most of Punjab, with smog likely at isolated places in Narowal, Sialkot, Gujranwala, Lahore, Faisalabad, Kot Addu, Multan, Bahawalpur and surrounding areas.
A weekly report by the Pakistan Air Quality Initiative put the scale of the problem in sharper relief: Lahore’s average PM2.5 concentration reached 218.4 micrograms per cubic metre over seven days, equivalent to an approximate AQI of 268, with PM2.5 climbing to nearly 300 micrograms per cubic metre at its peak — nearly 20 times the World Health Organization’s 24-hour guideline. Satellite data in the report identified 4,215 fire detections within 300 kilometres of Lahore during the seven-day period, 2,763 of them in Pakistan and 1,446 in India.
There was one brighter note: the same initiative’s data showed Lahore’s average PM2.5 concentrations fell by about 27 per cent in October 2026 compared with the same month last year, from 136.3 to 100.1 micrograms per cubic metre across 26 monitoring locations. Punjab Senior Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb cited the figures, describing October 2026 as Lahore’s cleanest October since 2023 — but the early-November readings show the winter smog season has now set in.
Sources: The Express Tribune, ‘Smog, hazardous air quality grips parts of Punjab amid dry weather forecast’, 7 November 2026 — https://tribune.com.pk/story/2639158/smog-hazardous-air-quality-grips-parts-of-punjab-amid-dry-weather-forecast ; The Express Tribune, ‘Smog persists in metropolis’, 8 November 2026 — https://tribune.com.pk/story/2639238/smog-persists-in-metropolis ; Daily Pakistan, ‘Lahore chokes on Toxic Smog as Breathing Air equals Smoking 10 Cigarettes a Day’, 7 November 2026 — https://en.dailypakistan.com.pk/07-Nov-2026/lahore-chokes-on-toxic-smog-as-breathing-air-equals-smoking-10-cigarettes-a-day ; Pakistan Today, ‘Lahore’s AQI hits 312 amid hazardous smog, even as PAQI report shows 27pc drop in October pollution’, 8 November 2026 — https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2026/11/08/lahore-chokes-on-hazardous-smog-despite-27pc-drop-in-october-pollution
