Strong winds help Delhi’s AQI settle in ‘moderate’ zone

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) said the Capital is unlikely to record any rain for a week

Strong winds swept through Delhi on Monday and slashed the city’s pollution levels, with the average air quality index (AQI) improving to 180 (moderate), as against 274 (poor) a day earlier, according to data from the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).

Delhi recorded a fairly warm night on Monday, with the minimum temperature settling at 12.4°C — three degrees above normal. The maximum was recorded at 21.0°C — two degrees below normal. (Hindustan Times)

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) said the Capital is unlikely to record any rain for a week, wind speeds are likely to get stronger over the next 48 hours and peak at 30km/hr by Wednesday.

No rain is expected over the next seven days, and only shallow to moderate fog is expected in the early hours of the day, officials said.

Delhi recorded a fairly warm night on Monday, with the minimum temperature settling at 12.4°C — three degrees above normal. The maximum was recorded at 21.0°C — two degrees below normal. The minimum and maximum was 11.9°C and 20.3°C respectively a day earlier.

As the weather improved, Delhi’s education department declared that schools in the Capital will return to their normal timings from Tuesday onwards. Due to low temperatures and dense fog, schools were earlier directed not to start before 9 am, or to function beyond 5 pm.

“In view of the improved weather conditions in Delhi, all government, government-aided, and recognised private schools of Delhi shall resume their normal timings w.e.f. 06.02.2024 (Tuesday),” said the order issued by the education department on Monday.

Kuldeep Srivastava, scientist at IMD, said Delhi only reported dense fog for 30 minutes on Monday morning, with largely shallow fog seen in the early hours. He said no rain is likely in Delhi in the next seven days, with the maximum to remain over 20°C.

“The lowest visibility was 50 metres at around 7 am, but it largely stayed over 500 metres in the morning. We saw wind speeds of 10-12 km/hr in the early hours, similar to Sunday and wind speeds are likely to pick up further in the next 48 hours, following the withdrawal of this western disturbance, which brought rain to Delhi. Wind speed should increase to 15 km/hr by Tuesday and around 25-30 km/hr by Wednesday,” said Srivastava.

IMD’s forecast showed Delhi’s minimum is likely to dip in the next few days, but is unlikely to go below 7°C. “As cloudiness starts to go away, the minimum will dip slightly, but it will not go below 7-8°C. The low minimum of 3-4°C, which we saw in mid January, is not likely to prevail anymore,” Srivastava added.

February has started on a fairly clean note, aided by rain. The first day of the month saw Delhi receive 27.1 mm of rainfall, which led to the air quality dropping to “moderate” for the first time in over three months. The AQI on the day was 177, which was Delhi’s lowest since October 19, 2023 (121).

An AQI of 51 to 100 is classified as “satisfactory”, between 101 and 200 is classified as “moderate”, between 201 and 300 is classified as “poor”, between 301 and 400 is classified as “very poor” and over 400 is “severe” by the CPCB.

The AQI was 217 (poor) on February 2; 200 (moderate) on February 3 and 274 (poor) on February 4.

Forecasts by the Early Warning System (EWS) for Delhi, a forecasting model under the ministry of earth sciences, shows Delhi’s AQI is likely to return to “poor” on Tuesday.

“The air quality is likely to be in the ‘poor’ category from February 6 to 8. The outlook for the subsequent six days shows air quality is likely to remain in the ‘poor’ category,” said EWS in its daily bulletin on Monday.