Mercury below 8°C in Delhi on coolest November day since 2020

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has attributed the ongoing cold spell to strong northwesterly winds

Delhi on Friday recorded its coldest November day in two years, with the mercury dipping to 7.8 degrees Celsius (°C), four notches below the normal for this time of the year. Friday’s minimum was the lowest recorded for the month since November 23, 2020, when the city had recorded a low of 6.2°C.

At Chandni Chowk in New Delhi on November 25. (Raj K Raj/HT Photo)

Friday’s minimum was 0.6 degrees lower than the 8.4°C recorded on Thursday, and was the eighth straight day that the city’s minimum was below the 10-degree mark.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has attributed the ongoing cold spell to strong northwesterly winds, adding that a clear sky and the lack of a major western disturbance would mean that the temperature will continue to remain below 10°C for a few days.

Meanwhile, the maximum temperature on Friday was 28.3°C, two degrees above normal for this time of the year, and higher than the 27°C recorded on Thursday. IMD has predicted that Delhi’s maximum is likely to fluctuate between 26°C and 27°C till the end of the month.

However, Delhi’s air quality on Friday dipped to an air quality index (AQI) of 294 (poor), according to the national bulletin released by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) at 4 pm each day -- a significant deterioration from the air quality logged on Thursday, when the city had recorded an AQI of 213 (poor).

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’.

The Early Warning System (EWS) for Delhi, a forecasting model developed by the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM) to be used by the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM), has predicted that the AQI is likely to deteriorate to the ‘very poor’ category by Saturday. The forecast for the subsequent six days after Sunday is that the AQI is likely to remain oscillate between the ‘poor’ and ‘very poor’.