Rain respite for Delhi but air quality remains ‘very poor’

The AQI improved slightly in comparison to Monday’s AQI reading of 395 (very poor) owing to scattered rainfall across the national Capital on Monday evening

Delhi’s air quality remained in the ‘very poor’ category as the AQI (air quality index) stood at 359 on Tuesday morning.

The hourly AQI at 8:10am was 348 on Tuesday, compared to the 340 AQI at 11pm on Monday. (PTI file photo)

The AQI improved slightly in comparison to Monday’s AQI reading of 395 (very poor) owing to scattered rainfall across the national Capital on Monday evening.

The 24-hour average AQI is expected to improve further throughout the day.

The hourly AQI at 8:10am was 348 on Tuesday, compared to the 340 AQI at 11pm on Monday.

According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), Safdarjung received 7.2mm of rain and Palam received 2.3 mm of rain till 8:30am on Tuesday, accompanied by a southeasterly wind of 12 kmph and 20 kmph respectively.

Lodhi Road received 4mm of rain while Ayanagar received 1.4mm and Ridge received 0.4mm.

IMD officials said that the national Capital received owing to the western disturbance which travelled over the national Capital after bringing heavy rain to Gujarat and Rajasthan over the weekend.

“As the western disturbance hit the city, we saw winds of up to 50kmph by evening of Monday in some parts of the Capital. Such gusty winds are usually seen during the monsoon season,” said Kuldeep Srivastava, a scientist at the IMD.

According to data, Delhi has already recorded nine ‘severe’ days so far this month and eight days when the AQI has been between 390 and 400.

This time, Delhi is only behind November 2016 which had 10 severe days and November 2021 which recorded 11 severe days.

Safdarjung, representative of Delhi’s weather, recorded a minimum of 14.2°C in the last 24 hours, four degrees above normal.

The forecast for the maximum is 24.2°C, two degrees below normal.

“The minimum is expected to touch 11°C by Thursday and remain around that through the week while the maximum is forecast to stay around 24 or 25°C through the week, “said IMD officials.

“The predominant surface wind is likely to be coming from Northeast direction with wind speed up to 4kmph but likely to remain calm during evening or night. Partly cloudy sky and shallow to moderate fog during the morning of Tuesday will also be observed,” according to Air Quality Early Warning System (EWS) in Delhi.