Delhi’s max temp below 20°C as air stays ‘very poor’

Parts of Delhi could see a drizzle early on Friday under the influence of a western disturbance, the weather office said, with the caveat that this is unlikely to significantly impact the city’s air quality, which stayed in the ‘very poor’ category on Thursday

Delhi recorded a relatively cold day on Thursday, with the maximum temperature settling at 19.8 degrees Celsius – three below normal for this time of the season, even as the minimum temperature rose for the third straight day, touching 8.7°C

At 7.8°C, Ridge and Aya Nagar recorded the city’s lowest minimum temperatures on Thursday, and Mayur Vihar recorded the city’s lowest maximum, at 18.9°C. (Raj K Raj/HT Photo)

Parts of Delhi could see a drizzle early on Friday under the influence of a western disturbance, the weather office said, with the caveat that this is unlikely to significantly impact the city’s air quality, which stayed in the ‘very poor’ category on Thursday.

Scientists from the India Meteorological Department (IMD) also said the temperature is likely to fall below 6°C from Saturday.

R.K Jenamani, scientist at IMD, said this western disturbance is fairly weak, like the previous two in the first week of December, and will bring Delhi minimal rain.

“It will bring snow to the mountains, but very little will change for Delhi. The minimum temperature has risen due to this western disturbance, but will fall to between 5 and 6°C from December 18-21,” he said.

Delhi is also likely to record shallow fog on Friday, with maximum and minimum temperatures around 20°C and 8°C respectively.

Meanwhile, the air quality index (AQI) continued in the ‘very poor’ level for a fourth straight day.

The city logged a 24-hour average AQI of 368 (very poor), according to the Central Pollution Control Board’s 4pm bulletin on Thursday, marginally worse than 363 on Wednesday.

According to the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (Safar), a government forecasting body, AQI will remain in a similar range in the next two days, with some improvement expected from December 17.

“From December 17 onwards, an improvement in AQI is likely due to high wind speeds which will keep AQI within the ‘poor’ or the lower end of the ‘very poor’ category,” said Safar on Thursday.