New Delhi’s air quality plunges to ‘severe’ category on Tuesday morning

Data from the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) showed that the hourly air quality index (AQI) at 7am stood at 422, which was at 384 at the same time on Monday

New Delhi’s air quality plunged back to the “severe” category on Tuesday morning, a day after it had marginally improved to “very poor”, posing likely health issues for its residents.

People perform rituals for Chhath Puja on the banks of the Yamuna river at Kalindi Kunj in New Delhi. New Delhi’s air quality plunged to ‘severe’ category on Tuesday morning. (HT photo)

Data from the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) showed that the hourly air quality index (AQI) at 7am stood at 422, which was at 384 at the same time on Monday.

The CPCB classifies an AQI of zero to 50 as “good”, 51-100 as “satisfactory”, 101-200 as “moderate”, 201-300 as “poor”, 301-400 as “very poor” and above 401 as “severe”.

New Delhi is likely to see partly cloudy skies on Tuesday as per the Indian Meteorological Department’s (IMD) forecast.

The minimum temperature on Tuesday is likely to be 12 degrees Celsius while the highest temperature is predicted to be 30 degrees Celsius.

The maximum UV Index recorded on Tuesday morning was 1 (low) and humidity was at 75%. The dew point was 15 degrees Celsius with a cloud cover of 51%, while the barometric pressure was 1,016 mb upwards.