Delhi air quality moves into ‘poor’ zone, better than 8 other cities

The IMD has indicated that there will not be much of a change in the day and temperature. The maximum temperature on Monday is likely to be 28 degrees Censius

NEW DELHI: Delhi’s air quality index (AQI) improved to the “poor” zone on Monday morning from ”very poor” the previous day, according to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) data on its website. The city witnessed “shallow fog” and recorded an average AQI of 246 at 7am on Monday, an improvement over the average 24-hour AQI of 306 on Sunday.

According to CPCB data of 10 cities, Bengaluru had the best air quality at 7am on Monday among 10 cities while Delhi’s AQI improved to ‘poor’ zone (ANI)

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecast a minimum temperature of about 9 degrees Celsius and a maximum temperature of 28 degrees Celsius, close to 8.8 degrees Celsius recorded on Sunday. The maximum temperature was 28.4 degrees Celsius, four notches above the normal temperature.

According to CPCB website, Patna has the highest air pollution among 10 cities monitored by CPCB with an AQI of 372 at 7am. Bengaluru’s air quality was the best; it has an AQI of 33 at 7 am.

The other seven cities are Ahmadabad, Chennai, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Mumbai, Lucknow and Pune.

The government’s System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (Safar) said the overall AQI in Delhi was expected to be in the ‘very poor’ air quality. Fine particles (size < 2.5 micrometres) contribute about 54% to PM10.

It predicted that the AQI will remain in the same category for the next 3 days due to low to moderate wind speed. The surface wind will remain at about 8 to 16 km/hour, a maximum temperature of 25-27 degrees Celsius and a minimum temperature of 8-9degrees Celsius. The mixing layer height is likely to be about 1.0 km which helps dilution of pollutants.

An AQI between zero and 50 is considered ‘good’, 51 and 100 ‘satisfactory’, 101 and 200 ‘moderate’, 201 and 300 ‘poor’, 301 and 400 ‘very poor’, and 401 and 500 ‘severe’. AQI in the very poor category leads to respiratory illness on prolonged exposure.