Delhi’s air quality picks up, more rains in store this week

Officials with the IMD said Delhi is likely to receive light to moderate rainfall from Tuesday to Thursday, and issued a yellow alert for the three days

The Capital on Monday recorded an air quality index (AQI) of 58, which is classified as “satisfactory” by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), according to the central agency’s daily air quality bulletin, continuing a trend of consecutive “satisfactory” air days — AQI on Sunday was 62 — buoyed by rainfall over the past week.

Clouds hover over Delhi on Monday. (Raj K Raj/HT Photo)

Officials with the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said Delhi is likely to receive light to moderate rainfall from Tuesday to Thursday, and issued a yellow alert for the three days. Parts of Delhi may even record heavy rain, due to the monsoon trough moving closer to the national capital region (NCR), officials said.

Mahesh Palawat, vice president at Skymet, a private weather forecasting service, said there is a cyclonic circulation currently over Rajasthan, with the monsoon trough also moving closer to the Capital again. “Based on these two factors, we are expecting an increase in rain intensity. Most parts should record moderate rain, with some places in NCR recording heavy rain too,” he said.

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Parts of the Capital received scattered and light rain on Monday, with strong surface winds of 30-40 kmph being recorded throughout the day, keeping Delhi’s air quality in check. The lowest AQI recorded so far this year is 56 (satisfactory), on July 7. An AQI below 51 is considered “good”, meaning Delhi has yet to record a single good air day this year.

Forecasts said similar wind speed is likely on Tuesday, with the Centre’s early warning system (EWS) for Delhi predicting “satisfactory” air days to continue. “Delhi’s air quality is likely to be satisfactory from Tuesday till Thursday. The outlook for the subsequent six days shows it will be between satisfactory and moderate,” the daily EWS bulletin said.

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On Monday, the Safdarjung weather station, which is representative of Delhi’s weather, recorded 4.5mm of rainfall between 8.30am on Sunday and Monday. Between 8.30am and 5.30pm on Monday, “trace” rainfall was recorded. At the Palam weather station, 1.5mm was recorded till 8.30 am and “trace” rainfall was recorded in the next nine hours. The Lodhi station received 4.3mm of rain till 8.30am and “trace” rain till 5.30pm on Monday. The Ayanagar station recorded no rain till 8.30am, but recorded 1.7mm of rain till 5.30pm, according to IMD.

Delhi recorded 114.1mm of rainfall in August so far, against the monthly average of 233.1mm.

Delhi’s maximum temperature was 33.4°C on Monday, which was a degree below the normal and down from 36°C recorded a day earlier. The minimum temperature was 26°C, which was a degree below the normal and down from Sunday’s minimum of 27.4°C.

The minimum and maximum temperatures are likely to hover around 35°C and 27°C on Tuesday, respectively, according to forecasts.