Delhi’s air quality in ‘poor’ zone; Capital’s temperature expected to dip

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”

NEW DELHI: Delhi’s air quality was in the “poor” category on Monday morning as the mercury was likely to plunge to 7 degrees Celsius. According to the Central Pollution Control Board, the hourly Air Quality Index (AQI) was 241 at 7 am. On Sunday, the average 24-hour AQI was 202.

A cold winter morning in New Delhi. (PTI)

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”.

On Sunday, the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research said the AQI improved significantly to “moderate” due to wet deposition of particulate matter by rain. “Rain is likely to continue... leading to further improvement of AQI to lower end of ‘moderate’ or ‘satisfactory’. A dust storm originated from Gulf region headed towards Gujarat coast and parts of Maharashtra, however it is unlikely to affect the air quality of Delhi due to prevailing influence of western disturbance and associated intermittent drizzle/rain.”

A maximum temperature of 16 degrees Celsius was expected on Monday. On Sunday, the maximum temperature was 14.9 degrees Celsius and the minimum 10.5 degrees Celsius.