Best Diwali eve air quality in Noida in past two years

Noida: Increasing the hopes of a cleaner Diwali this year, the air quality in Noida and adjoining areas on Saturday, the eve of Diwali, was the healthiest in the

Noida: Increasing the hopes of a cleaner Diwali this year, the air quality in Noida and adjoining areas on Saturday, the eve of Diwali, was the healthiest in the past two years.

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According to weatherman, the conditions which were responsible for a cleaner Diwali eve are likely to change on Diwali night (October 27, Sunday) thereby increasing the chances of pollution accumulation a day after Diwali (October 28, Monday), if the volume of fireworks and use of conventional fireworks turn out to be more than anticipated.

Currently, Noida and adjoining regions are seeing easterly winds which are cleaner, as compared to the conventional or north easterly winds that bring along pollutants from stubble burning in the neighbouring Punjab and Haryana.

On Saturday, the air quality index (AQI), as recorded by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) on a scale of 0 to 500 with 0 being the cleanest and 500 the most polluted, in Noida was 280 or ‘poor’. On Diwali eve in 2018, it was quite higher at 347 (on November 6), and a year before that, it was 315 (on October 18), both in the ‘very poor’ category.

Ghaziabad also saw improved AQI on Saturday with a reading of 303 or ‘very poor’. The AQI in Ghaziabad on Diwali eve in 2018 was 408 or ‘severe’.

Unlike this year, the winds were predominantly north-westerly in Delhi-NCR around Diwali in 2017 and 2018.

“The winds are presently easterly and will start changing from Sunday. Also, the speed of winds will drop on Sunday, as is the case whenever the winds direction changes. On Sunday night, the winds are likely to change back to north-westerly, which is not good news for residents of NCR. This could lead to accumulation of pollution on Monday. However, from October 28m the speed of north-westerly winds will increase which may lead to dispersal of pollutants,” Mahesh Palawat, director private weather forecast agency, Skymet, said.

According to the System of Air Quality and weather Forecasting and Research (Safar), the air quality of Delhi-NCR could still manage to remain about the same even a day after Diwali, given that there are no major additional emissions in the form of fireworks.

“The highest impact of firecracker emissions (if any) is expected early morning on October 28 (between 1am and 6am). In the normal course, the stubble burning induced impact is expected to be moderate and if no additional emissions from firecrackers is added, then the AQI will remain in the lower end of ‘very poor’ even post Diwali (on October 27, 28, 29). However, if even a 50% load — half of the average of firecrackers used on Diwali 2017 and 2018 — is added, then the AQI might plunge into ‘severe’ category for a short period, but the magnitude might be much lower than what it was in 2018,” a forecast by Safar said.