Uttar Pradesh Weather, AQI and Fuel Prices

Why Check Uttar Pradesh Weather & Data?

Uttar Pradesh is India's most populous state by a wide margin, home to an estimated 241 million people in 2025, roughly 17 percent of the country's population and more than the population of Brazil. It also runs the country's third-largest state economy, an estimated ₹29.6 to ₹29.8 lakh crore in 2024-25 GSDP, built substantially on agriculture: UP grows more wheat than any other state, 42.25 million tonnes in 2023-24, and more sugarcane, over 177 million tonnes, together making it the anchor of India's wheat and sugar supply. That scale means this page's live weather, AQI and fuel numbers carry different weight for very different readers across the Gangetic plain, a wheat farmer near Kanpur or Meerut watching the winter cold-wave advisory that can nip a standing crop, a Varanasi or Prayagraj resident checking the heat index before stepping out in June, a bus or truck operator on the Lucknow-Delhi or Yamuna Expressway corridor deciding whether to delay a pre-dawn departure for fog, an air traveller flying into Lucknow or Varanasi in December or January bracing for a diversion. Two seasons define the real risk here, peak summer heat across Prayagraj, Kanpur and Varanasi, and the dense winter fog that settles over the entire Gangetic belt from December into January.

Kanpur's Heat, Mathura's Fog: Uttar Pradesh's Two Real Risks

Uttar Pradesh's summer heat is a documented killer, not a discomfort. In June 2023, Ballia district hospital recorded 54 to 57 deaths over four days as daily highs hit around 42 to 43°C, roughly five to nine degrees above normal; nearby Deoria Medical College logged 133 bodies brought to its casualty ward between June 1 and 18, with 53 in a single 24-hour spell. State officials initially denied a heatwave link and transferred the Ballia hospital official who said otherwise. The heat has only intensified since: Prayagraj hit 46.8°C on April 29, 2022, the hottest April day ever recorded in the country, then broke its own record at 47.1°C on June 11, 2024, while Kanpur touched 47.5°C that same June. Winter brings the opposite hazard. Dense fog across the Gangetic plain routinely drops visibility to 50 metres or less through December and January, and on December 16, 2025, that fog triggered a chain-reaction crash on the Delhi-Agra (Yamuna) Expressway near Mathura: eight buses and three cars collided and caught fire around 4am, killing 13 and injuring more than 70; fog-related mishaps across UP roads that same day killed 23 in total. The Prime Minister's Office announced ex-gratia payments to the victims' families.

How to Use Uttar Pradesh's Data for Daily Decisions

Wheat and sugarcane farmers across the western and central plains should track the winter cold-wave and fog advisory alongside the forecast low, since a hard frost during December-January flowering can cut yield on the standing rabi crop. Paddy and kharif farmers in eastern UP should watch the monsoon's actual arrival rather than the calendar date, since onset in Purvanchal can run a week or more ahead of the west. Anyone driving the Lucknow-Delhi, Purvanchal or Yamuna Expressway between December and February should check the morning visibility forecast before a pre-dawn departure, exactly the window in which the Mathura pile-up and similar crashes have repeatedly occurred. Air travellers flying into or out of Lucknow, Varanasi or Kanpur in December and January should build in a buffer for fog-related delays and diversions rather than booking a tight connection. Outdoor workers and construction crews in Kanpur, Prayagraj and Varanasi should shift physical labour to before 8am through May and June, when afternoon highs regularly cross 45°C.

Uttar Pradesh's Seasonal Calendar

Monsoon normally reaches eastern UP, entering through Purvanchal, around June 20 and covers the entire state by late June, holding through September and delivering the bulk of the state's roughly 990mm average annual rainfall. Summer runs March to June, peaking in May and June when Prayagraj, Kanpur and Varanasi regularly cross 45°C and have touched 47°C or higher in recent years. Winter, December to February, brings dense fog and cold-wave conditions across the Gangetic plain, the season's biggest threat to road, rail and flight schedules. The Maha Kumbh Mela in Prayagraj, held January 13 to February 26, 2025 and drawing what officials called the largest human gathering in history, fell squarely inside this fog-prone window, adding enormous road and rail traffic on top of already reduced winter visibility. Anyone travelling through UP by road or air in December or January should check the fog and visibility forecast the morning of departure rather than the night before, since conditions can shift sharply between midnight and sunrise.

Uttar Pradesh vs Nearby States: Weather & Data Comparison

Figures from IMD climatology, government agriculture data and dated news reports; each state's numbers come from different station sources and years, so treat this as a broad reference, not a single-source dataset.