Delhi air quality in poor category, significant improvement unlikely

For the last three days, winds have been calm at night. There is no dispersal of pollutants which is why pollution levels are going up, said the regional weather forecasting centre

Delhi’s air quality remained in the poor category with an air quality index of 288 on Monday, according to Sameer app of Central Pollution Control Board. An AQI of 301 to 400 puts the air quality in very poor category. AQI is likely to hover in “poor” to “very poor” category over Delhi and other parts of northwest India due to calm winds in the evening, which slow down dispersal of pollutants.

Representational Image. (HT archive)

“Wind speed during the day was around 10kmph but in the evening, it will be mostly calm. This is why we are not seeing any improvement in air quality. We are unlikely to record any significant improvement in the coming days either,” said VK Soni, scientist at India Meteorological Department (IMD)’s air quality division.

Baghpat, Bulandshahr, Ghaziabad, Moradabad, Meerut also recorded “very poor” air quality on Monday.

“As February is coming to an end we are expecting a rise in both maximum and minimum temperatures. Maximum temperature is likely to be 30 to 31 degrees Celsius while minimum is likely to be 12 to 13 degrees Celsius in the next three or four days. A western disturbance is impacting the Western Himalayan region. Once that moves away, there will be a marginal and brief drop in temperatures in the Capital as cold northwesterly winds will be blowing, but otherwise its likely to get warmer now,” said Kuldeep Shrivastava, head, regional weather forecasting centre.

On Monday , Delhi’s maximum temperature was 28.9 degrees Celsius, 4 degrees above normal and minimum temperature was 11 degrees Celsius, 0 degrees above normal.

Under the influence of a fresh western disturbance, widespread rainfall or snowfall is very likely over Jammu, Kashmir, Ladakh, Gilgit, Baltistan and Muzaffarabad; scattered rainfall/snowfall is likely over Himachal Pradesh for next 3 days and fairly widespread rainfall for the subsequent 2 days while scattered rainfall or snowfall is also likely over Uttarakhand during next 5 days.

Thunderstorm or lighting is very likely over Jammu, Kashmir, Ladakh, Gilgit, Baltistan and Muzaffarabad during next 5 days and over Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand during February 23 to 26. Isolated hailstorm is likely over Jammu, Kashmir, Ladakh, Gilgit, Baltistan and Muzaffarabad on February 24 and 25; Himachal Pradesh on February 25 and 26 and over Uttarakhand during February 23 to 26.

Air quality early warning system for Delhi under the ministry of earth sciences had forecast that air quality is likely to be in very poor category on Monday and Tuesday.

Air quality early warning system for Delhi under the ministry of earth sciences had forecast that air quality is likely to be in very poor category on Monday and Tuesday. The predominant surface wind is likely to be coming from west of Delhi with wind speed 05-15 kmph, mainly clear sky and mist or shallow fog in the morning on February 23.

Meanwhile, IMD said dense to very dense fog was observed in isolated pockets over Delhi, and the visibility remained 500 metres in most parts of the city.

On Sunday too, the AQI was recorded in poor category at 295. The average air quality was recorded in the poor category across Ghaziabad, Noida, Greater Noida, Faridabad and Gurgaon as well, according to data issued by a government agency on Sunday. According to CPCB’s Sameer app, AQI was 260 in Ghaziabad, 300 in Greater Noida, 251 in Noida, 264 in Faridabad and 297 in Gurugram.

(With agency inputs)