Delhi’s air ‘poor’, likely to deteriorate further over next 2 days

AQI is likely to marginally deteriorate and stay in the ‘poor’ to ‘very poor’ category on Monday. ‘Very poor’ AQI is forecasted February 9 and 10, according to Safar

Delhi’s air quality dropped to the higher end of the "poor" category on Monday morning. Data from Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) showed that the hourly air quality index (AQI) at 7am stood at 282. On Sunday, the average 24-hour AQI had been 232.

Delhi woke up to shallow fog on Monday as predicted by India Meteorological Department. The minimum temperature is likely to be at 8 degrees Celsius, the same as Sunday (Arvind Yadav/HT PHOTO)

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".

“Surface winds are high and west-southwesterly direction and forecasted to stay high for the next 24 hours and gradually decrease. The higher ventilation is likely to influence air quality positively. AQI is likely to marginally deteriorate and stay in the ‘poor’ to ‘very poor’ category on Monday. ‘Very poor’ AQI is forecasted February 9 and 10,” Union ministry of earth science’s air quality monitoring centre, System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (Safar) said on Sunday.

Meanwhile, Delhi woke up to shallow fog as predicted by India Meteorological Department. The minimum temperature is likely to be at 8 degrees Celsius, the same as Sunday, while the maximum temperature is predicted to be at 24 degrees Celsius—a notch higher than Sunday.

The minimum temperature on Sunday was 8.3 degrees Celsius which was a degree lower than normal and maximum temperature was 22.8 degrees Celsius.