16-day streak of satisfactory air quality ends in Delhi

Delhi's air quality dropped to "moderate" for the first time in 16 days, with an AQI of 105 on Saturday, following light rain and cloudy weather.

For the first time in 16 days, Delhi’s air quality dropped into the “moderate” category on Saturday, despite light rain and cloudy weather on the day and over the past few days in the National Capital Region (NCR). The temperature also slightly rose on Saturday.

Rain near Janpath in New Delhi on Saturday. (Arvind Yadav/HT photo)

Delhi’s 24-hour average air quality index (AQI) on Saturday was 105 (moderate) at 4pm, a deterioration from 79 (satisfactory) on Friday and 59 on Thursday, according to the Central Pollution Control Board’s daily national bulletin. The last time Delhi’s AQI was in the moderate category was June 25 — from June 26 to July 11, AQI was in the “satisfactory” category.

Forecasts by Air Quality Early Warning System (AQEWS) for Delhi predict that AQI will return to the satisfactory category by Sunday and remain so till at least Tuesday.

Safdarjung, Delhi’s base weather station, recorded 1mm of rainfall in the 24 hours leading up to 8.30am on Saturday and 15.6mm from 8.30am to 8.30 pm.

Palam recorded 8.2mm in 24 hours till 8.30am and 0.6mm throughout the rest of the day. Lodhi Road recorded 0.4mm of rain till 8.30am and 12mm later in the day, and Pusa recorded 13mm in the first half and 1mm of rain later in the day.

The maximum temperature was recorded at 34.8°C, 0.7°C below the normal and higher than Friday’s 33.2 °C. The minimum was clocked at 26.4°C, higher than Friday’s 25.6°C.

The India Meteorological department (IMD) has forecast that light rain will continue in the city over the next few days. “Generally cloudy skies will persist throughout the next week. Very light to light rain along with thunderstorm and lighting is also expected to continue till next at least next Thursday,” said an IMD official.

According to IMD, up to 15.5 mm of rainfall is considered light rainfall, 15.6mm to 64.4 mm is considered moderate rainfall, 64.5 mm to 115.5mm is considered heavy rainfall and 115.6mm to 204.4mm is very heavy rainfall.