Delhi’s air quality in ‘poor’ zone; rain expected today

According to the Central Pollution Control Board, the hourly Air Quality Index (AQI) at 7am on Tuesday was 249. On Monday, the average 24-hour AQI was 283, also in the “poor” category

NEW DELHI: Delhi’s air quality was in the “poor” category on Tuesday while overcast weather with light rain or drizzle was expected in the Capital. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) said the minimum temperature was likely to be 10 degrees Celsius and the maximum 21 degrees Celsius.

Traffic on the Delhi-Gurugram Expressway amid dense fog near IFFCO Chowk in Gurugram during the weekend. (Parveen Kumar/Hindustan Times)

On Monday, the minimum temperature was 10 degrees Celsius and the maximum 23 degrees Celsius.

According to the Central Pollution Control Board, the hourly Air Quality Index (AQI) at 7am was 249. On Monday, the average 24-hour AQI was 283 in the “poor” category.

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 Tuesday, the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research said the AQI improved due to overnight rain. “On 29th (Wednesday) improvement is expected due to high easterly winds that enhance (the) ventilation of pollutants. Mixing layer height continues to be low (less than 1km) and minimum temperature tends to drop gradually. The net effect is that AQI remains to be within ‘very Poor’ till 31st (December) and from 1st (January) onwards, it is likely to improve to ‘poor’.”