Delhi’s air quality in very 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”

NEW DELHI: Delhi’s air quality was in the “very poor” category on Wednesday morning with partly overcast weather and moderate fog. According to the Central Pollution Control Board, the hourly Air Quality Index (AQI) at 7.00 am was 331. On Tuesday, the average 24-hour AQI was 352 in the “very poor category”. The dominant pollutants in Delhi’s air were particulate matter PM2.5 and PM 10.

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 Tuesday, the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research said the air quality is expected to remain in the “very poor” category till Friday. “It is expected that minimum temperature increases dispersion while wind speed reduces dispersion for the next 3 days... the net effect is that AQI remains within ‘very poor’. It is likely to rain on 22nd January with gusty wind leading to wet deposition and strong dispersion resulting in significant improvement of AQI to ‘poor’ category.”

The minimum temperature on Wednesday was likely to be 9 degrees Celsius and a maximum of 16 degrees Celsius. On Tuesday, the minimum temperature was 8 degrees Celsius, one notch above normal, and the maximum temperature was 15.4 degrees Celsius, four degrees below normal. Similar conditions are likely to persist on Thursday with a likelihood of very light drizzle on Friday and light rain accompanied with gusty winds on Saturday.