Delhi records coldest morning at 5.6°C; AQI remains ‘poor’

Officials said that the chill is expected to persist, with the possibility of coldwave conditions in isolated pockets of the national Capital around Friday

Delhi recorded the coldest morning of this season so far as the minimum temperature dipped to 5.6°C on Thursday, around 3.9°C below normal for this time of year, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.

Delhi had on Monday recorded a minimum temperature of 5.7°C. (HT photo)

Officials said that the chill is expected to persist, with the possibility of coldwave conditions in isolated pockets of the national Capital around Friday.

Delhi had on Monday recorded a minimum temperature of 5.7°C, which was the lowest recorded in the first week of December in at least 14 years, according to IMD data since 2011.

Forecasts suggest a colder-than-usual winter ahead, with higher-than-normal coldwave days likely across central India and parts of northwest and northeast India. Between December and February, IMD expects one to four more coldwave days in the region than usual. Northwest India typically sees five to six coldwave days during this period.

The dip in temperature led by cold winds also pushed the air quality index (AQI) lower, seemingly bringing some respite to the high pollution levels. The rolling average AQI for the last 24 hours at 10am on Thursday was 298 (‘poor’) category.

Though the AQI improved marginally, 29 of the 40 functional monitoring stations still showed very poor AQI while one at Mandir Marg was ‘satisfactory’ at 185.

Despite the reduced pollution levels on Thursday, the AQI is likely to stay in the ‘very poor’ category in the coming days., forecast suggests.