Delhi’s air still in ‘very poor’, zone; mercury rises marginally

Delhi’s air quality remained in the ‘very poor’ zone for a second day in a row on Tuesday, with the Capital logging an Air Quality Index (AQI) reading of 353, according to the Central Pollution Control Board’s daily national bulletin, released at 4 pm

Delhi’s air quality remained in the ‘very poor’ zone for a second day in a row on Tuesday, with the Capital logging an Air Quality Index (AQI) reading of 353, according to the Central Pollution Control Board’s daily national bulletin, released at 4 pm.

A farming field shrouded in smog at Yamuna bank near Mayur Vihar in New Delhi on Tuesday. (Sunil Ghosh/HT Photo)

Tuesday’s AQI was a slight deterioration from Monday’s reading of 347. The CPCB classifies an AQI between 0-50 as ‘good’, between 51 and 100 as ‘satisfactory’, between 101 and 200 as ‘moderate’, between 201 and 300 as ‘poor’, between 301 and 400 as ‘very poor’ and over 400 as ‘severe’.

Meanwhile, cold northwesterly winds led to Delhi recording a maximum temperature of 24.1 degrees Celsius (°C) -- one degree below normal for this time of the year, and the lowest maximum temperature since October 10, when the city recorded a high of 23.6°C due to overcast skies and rain.

The minimum temperature recorded on Tuesday was 8°C -- one degree below normal.

“Delhi is now seeing shallow fog in the early hours and calm winds… Wind speed picks up during the day, increasing to around 10 km/hr. While Delhi is still recording sunny days, cloud cover due to increased moisture has reduced the minimum by 2-3 degrees as compared to the last week of November,” said RK Jenamani, scientist at India Meteorological Department.

As winds speeds continue to pick up in the city, forecasts show that Delhi’s air quality will likely improve over the next two days.

“The AQI is likely to improve but will remain in the lower end of the ‘very poor’ category on December 7. The AQI will improve further on December 8 but will be in the upper end of the ‘poor’ category. On December 9, the AQI will deteriorate marginally and is likely to be in the lower end of the ‘very poor’ category,” said the Early Warning System (EWS) in Delhi, a forecasting model used by the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM).