Air quality dips, light rain predicted

The city’s air quality deteriorated to the very poor category on Wednesday, recording an air quality index (AQI) reading of 309 on the Central Pollution Control Board’s daily bulletin

The city’s air quality deteriorated to the very poor category on Wednesday, recording an air quality index (AQI) reading of 309 on the Central Pollution Control Board’s daily bulletin.

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The air quality fell from Tuesday’s AQI reading of 231 that was in the poor category, with experts attributing it to calm wind conditions that were unfavourable for the dispersion of pollutants.

According to the early air quality warning system for Delhi-NCR, the air quality across Delhi-NCR is likely to improve marginally but remain in the poor zone on Thursday and Friday. Subsequently, the air quality is likely to remain in the poor to moderate zone over the next five days.

The level of ultrafine particulate matter having a diameter of 2.5 microns or less (PM 2.5), the city’s primary pollutant, was 161.5 micrograms per cubic metre (µg/m³) on Wednesday, as per the CPCB’s air quality monitor at Vikas Sadan in Sector 11. The PM 2.5 concentration at Gwal Pahari stood at 349.03 µg/m3. The concentrations were well above the safe limit of 60 µg/m³.

Kuldeep Srivastava, head of India Meteorological Department’s (IMD) regional weather forecasting centre, said that while thunder was likely on Wednesday and Thursday, no significant impact on the temperature was likely. “We can expect some cloudiness and drizzle in some places but overall, there will not be any major impact on the prevailing temperatures,” said Srivastava.

He said that no improvement in the AQI was expected in the coming days. “The AQI will remain in the same category for the next two-three days,” he said.

While the IMD’s automatic weather station (AWS) in Gurugram did not record the minimum temperature on Wednesday, the IMD’s AWS at the Palam observatory in Delhi recorded the day’s minimum temperature at 18.8 degrees Celsius. The city’s maximum temperature stood at 34.9 degrees Celsius.

As per the IMD’s weekly forecast, the maximum and minimum temperatures are expected to hover around 32 degrees and 17 degrees Celsius, respectively, on Thursday.