E-Paper
City records season’s lowest at 7 degrees C
Gurugram: The city recorded the season’s lowest temperature at 7 degrees Celsius on Wednesday. It was a drop of more than three degrees from Tuesday’s minimum temperature,
Gurugram: The city recorded the season’s lowest temperature at 7 degrees Celsius on Wednesday. It was a drop of more than three degrees from Tuesday’s minimum temperature, as per the India Meteorological Department (IMD).
The maximum temperature, however, rose by almost six degrees Celsius on Wednesday to 17.8 degrees Celsius, the IMD said. The city had been witnessing ‘severe cold days’ for the past two days as the day temperature averaged around 12 degrees Celsius.
“The rise in maximum temperature was a result of a reduced cloud cover,” said Kuldeep Srivastava, senior scientist at the IMD, classifying Wednesday as a ‘cold day’.
Srivastava said that such cold conditions are expected to abate on Thursday due to a decrease in wind speed and reduced cloud cover.
The maximum and minimum temperatures are likely to increase on Thursday and Friday due to the Western Disturbance, as per the IMD.
The city continued to record ‘moderate’ air quality on Wednesday for the sixth straight day, with a reading of 123 on the Central Pollution Control Board’s air quality index (AQI) bulletin.
This is the longest spell of ‘moderate’ AQI since November 26 when the city had ‘moderate’ air quality for eight straight days.
Wednesday’s AQI saw a marginal deterioration from the previous day’s AQI of 106, as per the CPCB data.
However, Gurugram had the cleanest air among major national capital region (NCR) cities, as per the CPCB data. Delhi and Faridabad recorded ‘poor’ AQI with a reading of 292 and 284, respectively. Noida and Ghaziabad recorded ‘very poor’ AQI at 318 and 340, respectively.
According to air quality experts, Gurugram had much cleaner air due to the wind direction and speed. “Westerlies are blowing over NCR and a speed of around 10 kmph helped clear pollutants from Gurugram as it lies in the face of the wind,” said a CPCB official.
Particulate matter (PM) 2.5 in the city was at a maximum of 84ug/m3 – up from a maximum of 75ug/m3 on Tuesday, as per the CPCB’s AQI monitor at Vikas Sadan. The safe limit for PM2.5 levels is 60ug/m3.
Air quality is likely to deteriorate on Thursday to the ‘poor’ category due to low wind speed, as per the CPCB’s prediction. Light rain is expected on Friday due to a Western Disturbance and air quality is likely to improve to ‘moderate’, said the experts.
