Varanasi's air today: where the smoke is coming from
Varanasi's smoke report
Right now the wind over Varanasi blows from the east at 19 km/h (weather model, 30 October, 08:15 IST). None of the 2 fires seen within 250 km in the 24 hours to 30 October, 04:18 IST lie upwind, so the wind is not carrying their smoke here right now.
Ranks among the cities with pages here that have any of each: #1 has the most.
Map of the fires around the city, last 24 hours
Each dot is one fire a NASA satellite saw. Red dots are upwind, in the direction the wind is coming from, so their smoke is the likeliest to be reaching the city now; grey dots are in other directions. The moving lines show the wind blowing towards the city. Tap a dot for the village and the time.
Fires within 250 km in the last 24 hours, by direction. Red: the side the wind is coming from (the east). Tap a direction to pick out its fires on the map.
What satellites see around Varanasi
What satellites and surveys see around the city. Each is a different measure, so they can't be added up into shares of the air.
Fires around Varanasi in the last 30 days
The busiest of the last 29 days was 25 October, with 136 fire spots within 250 km, 3 of them within 50 km.
within 250 km within 50 km
A fire spot is one fire seen on a day, however many satellites saw it (Pakistan-time days). The archive runs every day from 1 October 2026; before that it holds only the October-November seasons.
NO₂ pollution in Varanasi: traffic, industry and power plants
Over the last 14 days the air over Varanasi held 1.43 times the region's usual level of nitrogen dioxide (NO₂), #42 of 58 cities.
The strongest NO₂ peak within 35 km was 1.66 times the usual level, in the city itself, the pattern of a city's traffic.
From Sentinel-5P's TROPOMI instrument via NASA's GIBS tiles, which publish NO₂ as colour bands: a level here is good to about one band. NO₂ in big cities comes mostly from vehicle engines; peaks are named after what is nearby, which suggests a source but doesn't measure one. NO₂ window 15 October to 28 October 2026.
Brick kilns
1,257 brick kilns stand within 50 km of Varanasi.
Landfills
Satellites and aircraft have measured methane rising from Churamanpur, 13 km from the centre, 2 times, about 772 kg an hour. That puts it #20 of the 58 measured landfills in Pakistan and India.
Rank among the 58 landfill records with a measured rate in Carbon Mapper's data for Pakistan and India (this extract covers only these two countries). Rates are Carbon Mapper's automatic per-plume estimates; landfill methane also carries the smell and smoke of burning rubbish.
Power plants and industry
No fossil-fuel power plant is mapped within 50 km of Varanasi, but 122 industrial areas are.
1 always-hot site that NASA's satellites saw burning on 20 or more days in 2025: Varanasi (26)
Within 50 km of the city centre, on either side of the border. These are lists of what is there, not measures of how much each adds to the air.
Every mapped source within 50 km of Varanasi
Tap a layer to hide it, or a site for its name.
Brick-kiln surveys, OpenStreetMap, Carbon Mapper and NASA FIRMS, on either side of the border. These map what is there, not how much each adds to the air. /sites/ · Site lists built 26 October 2026.
Fires around Varanasi this season compared with past years
Fire spots within 250 km of Varanasi from 1 October to 29 October, each year. These count Suomi NPP alone, so every year is measured by the same instrument and the years compare fairly (the 30-day chart above counts all five satellites, three VIIRS and two MODIS, so its numbers are higher).
* 2026: 1 day without Suomi NPP data: a floor
Varanasi against the other cities
Each strip holds the cities with pages here that have any of it, the most on the left; the red mark is Varanasi. They are different measures, so a high rank on one isn't a larger share of the air than a high rank on another.
All the rankings: city rankings
Send this to someone in Varanasi
Pasted into WhatsApp or X, the link shows this map of the fires and the wind, redrawn every few hours.
Varanasi air today: where the smoke is coming from
hamarihawa.org
All the numbers
Every table behind this page.
Fires within 250 km by direction, last 24 hours
| From the | Fires |
|---|---|
| north | 0 |
| north-east | 0 |
| east (the wind is coming from here) | 0 |
| south-east | 0 |
| south | 0 |
| south-west | 0 |
| west | 0 |
| north-west | 2 |
Fires within 250 km in the last 7 days
| District | Province or state | Country | Distance | Fires | On farmland |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Singrauli | Madhya Pradesh | India | 130 km | 71 | 4% |
| Fatehpur | Uttar Pradesh | India | 213 km | 64 | 95% |
| Manendragarh Chirimiri Bharatpur | Chhattisgarh | India | 248 km | 37 | 0% |
| Gorakhpur | Uttar Pradesh | India | 163 km | 33 | 48% |
| Satna | Madhya Pradesh | India | 236 km | 33 | 91% |
| Kaushambi | Uttar Pradesh | India | 166 km | 32 | 97% |
| Bara Banki | Uttar Pradesh | India | 239 km | 21 | 100% |
| Kushinagar | Uttar Pradesh | India | 193 km | 16 | 88% |
| Maharajganj | Uttar Pradesh | India | 217 km | 16 | 75% |
| Raebareli | Uttar Pradesh | India | 206 km | 13 | 85% |
Fires around Varanasi this season compared with past years
| Season | Fire spots |
|---|---|
| 2019 | 218 |
| 2020 | 434 |
| 2021 | 324 |
| 2022 | 293 |
| 2023 | 374 |
| 2024 | 347 |
| 2025 | 417 |
| 2026 (so far) | 512 (1 day without Suomi NPP data: a floor) |
Landfill methane records
| Site | Methane | Plumes seen | Last seen | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Churamanpur (Varanasi, India, 13 km) | 772 kg/h | 2 | 10 June 2024 | 20 of 58 |
Rank among the 58 landfill records with a measured rate in Carbon Mapper's data for Pakistan and India (this extract covers only these two countries). Rates are Carbon Mapper's automatic per-plume estimates; landfill methane also carries the smell and smoke of burning rubbish.
Every measure and rank
Where Varanasi stands among the 58 cities with pages here, on each measure. They are different measures, so a high rank on one isn't a larger share of the air than a high rank on another.
| Measure | Varanasi | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Fire spots within 250 km, last 30 days | 1,306 | 39 of 58 |
| NO₂, times the usual level (14 days) | 1.43× | 42 of 58 |
| Landfill methane within 50 km | 772 kg/h | 22 of 34 |
| Measured plant CO₂ within 50 km | none measured | – |
| Brick kilns within 50 km | 1,257 | 1 of 34 |
| Industrial areas within 50 km | 122 | 26 of 58 |
| Always-hot sites within 50 km | 1 | 13 of 23 |
Ranks on today's fires
Varanasi's place among the cities, on the numbers that change with each satellite pass.
- Fire spots upwind, last 24 hours: 0
- Fire spots within 250 km, last 24 hours: 56 of 57
- Fire spots within 250 km, last 7 days: 42 of 58
All the rankings: city rankings
Questions about Varanasi's air
Where is Varanasi's smoke coming from today?
Right now the wind over Varanasi blows from the east at 19 km/h (weather model, 30 October, 08:15 IST). None of the 2 fires seen within 250 km in the 24 hours to 30 October, 04:18 IST lie upwind, so the wind is not carrying their smoke here right now.
Are crop fires burning near Varanasi?
In the last 24 hours NASA's satellites saw 2 fire spots within 250 km of Varanasi, and 1,306 in the last 30 days. Satellites only see what is burning as they pass, and not under cloud.
How bad is traffic pollution in Varanasi?
Over the 14 days 15 October to 28 October 2026, nitrogen dioxide in the air over Varanasi (within 15 km) was about 1.43 times the usual level of the surrounding region, roughly 2.71 ×10¹⁵ molecules/cm². Of the 58 cities with enough clear days, it ranks 42.
How many brick kilns are there near Varanasi?
The satellite surveys count 1,257 brick kilns within 50 km of Varanasi.
Which landfills near Varanasi release methane?
Carbon Mapper has measured methane plumes from Churamanpur (772 kg/h).
Every number on this page is also in machine-readable form (JSON).
More about Varanasi
Nearby cities: Prayagraj (114 km), Patna (219 km), Lucknow (264 km), Kanpur (293 km)
Fires up to 30 October, 04:18 IST. This page updates every 15 minutes. Upwind is a guide, not proof: smoke can travel further than 250 km, the wind turns during the day, and satellites can't see fires under cloud. A fire spot is one fire, about 375 m across, however many satellites saw it. Fires: NASA FIRMS (VIIRS and MODIS). Wind: Open-Meteo's weather model. Air: Copernicus CAMS model estimates, which read low in winter.