Delhi’s air quality remains ‘severe’; minimum temperature recorded at 7.5°C

Delhi’s minimum temperature rose in the past 24 hours and was recorded at 7.5°C -- a degree below normal

Delhi’s air quality remained in the ‘severe’ category for a fourth straight day on Friday as calm winds kept Delhi trapped in a toxic haze coupled with pollutants. The average air quality index (AQI) stood at 433 at (am on Friday. It was 451 (severe) at 4pm on Thursday, the highest for Delhi in December in three years.

An anti-smog vehicle sprinkles water to mitigate pollution. (ANI photo)

The last time it was higher was December 26, 2021, when it was 459. The highest ever AQI recorded in December is 469, which was on December 21, 2017.

Forecasts by the Centre’s Early Warning System for Delhi (EWS) show winds are likely to pick up by Saturday, pushing the AQI back down to very poor again.

“A feeble western disturbance is impacting northwest India and winds have been fairly stagnant. The same western disturbance has also brought moisture, which also helps traps pollutants,” said Mahesh Palawat, vice president at Skymet meteorology. He said though wind speeds picked up briefly during the day on Thursday, going up to 15 km/hr, they once again dropped by late evening.

“There was a marginal increase in wind speed, which brought the AQI down marginally.” he said.

Delhi’s average AQI was recorded at 433 at 4pm on Tuesday. It was 445 at the same time on Wednesday and 451 on Thursday.

Delhi recorded three consecutive severe air days last December too – between December 22 and 24. The AQI peaked at 450 on December 23 last year.

In 2022, it recorded just one severe air day, on December 19, when the AQI was 410. The last time Delhi had more consecutive severe air days was 2021, when six straight days of 400 AQI or higher were seen in the capital between December 21 and 26.

Meanwhile, Delhi’s minimum temperature rose in the past 24 hours and was recorded at 7.5°C -- a degree below normal. It was 5°C a day earlier.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) said shallow fog was witnessed in the capital with the visibility hovering around 800 metres at Palam at 5:30am.