Delhi residents wake up to ‘severe’ air quality

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 “severe” category on Monday as the minimum temperature was likely to be 6 degrees Celsius and the maximum 25 degrees Celsius. According to the Central Pollution Control Board, the hourly Air Quality Index (AQI) was 267 at 7 am. On Sunday, the average 24-hour AQI was 285.

The air quality degraded faster than expected due to calm winds. (HT PHOTO/File)

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 monitoring agency System of Air Quality And Weather Forecasting And Research said the air quality has degraded faster than expected due to calm winds and moderate mixing layer height. It added this prevented efficient ventilation of near-surface pollutants. “For the next 2 days [Monday and Tuesday], AQI [is] likely to remain within ‘Very Poor’ [category]. Likelihood of rain on 9th [Wednesday] would improve AQI causing wet deposition of pollutants”

On Sunday, the maximum temperature was 24.2 degrees Celsius, a notch above normal, and the minimum 5.4 degrees Celsius.