Delhi woke up to a blanket of thick smog on Thursday, with the city's air quality deteriorating sharply overnight, plunging into the 'very poor' category, as the much-hyped cloud seeding experiment to spur artificial rain flopped.

According to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) data, the capital's overall Air Quality Index (AQI) stood at 352, an 80-point spike compared to Tuesday's AQI average.

Data showed that 32 out of the 38 monitoring stations across Delhi recorded air quality in the 'very poor' range, with key pockets seeing the AQI dip to the 'severe' category.

Among the worst-affected areas were Vivek Vihar (AQI 415) and Anand Vihar (AQI 409) - both falling in the 'severe' category. Wazirpur also reported alarming levels with an AQI of 394.

An AQI between 0 and 50 is con

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