Air quality improves due to high wind speeds

The city’s air quality remained in the ‘moderate category’ for the second consecutive day on Saturday, recording 170 on the Central Pollution Control Board’s (CPCB) air quality index (AQI) bulletin

The city’s air quality remained in the ‘moderate category’ for the second consecutive day on Saturday, recording 170 on the Central Pollution Control Board’s (CPCB) air quality index (AQI) bulletin. This was a marginal deterioration from Friday’s AQI reading of 160. Experts said that the air quality had improved on account of better ventilation speed due to high surface winds.

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Sachin Panwar, a city-based air quality scientist, said that the air quality had improved a lot since there was no hindrance due to weather conditions and only local sources of pollution were prevalent. “The afternoons are going to get better while pollutants will try to dominate in the late night to early morning hours. This is the usual weather for this time of the year,” said Panwar.

He said that due to higher surface winds, the ventilation and dispersal of pollutants was better. “Due to higher surface winds, there will be roughly 5 to 10% percent improvement in the air quality,” said Panwar.

As per the early air quality warning system for Delhi-NCR, the air quality is likely to remain in the ‘poor’ category on Sunday. The air quality is likely to remain in the ‘poor’ to lower end of ‘very poor’ category on Monday. Subsequently, the air quality is likely to remain largely in the lower end of ‘very poor’ category over the next five days.

While the IMD’s automatic weather station (AWS) for Gurugram did not record the minimum temperature on Saturday, the India Meteorological Department’s AWS, in Palam in Delhi, recorded the day’s minimum temperature at 8.5 degrees Celsius. The city’s maximum temperature stood at 21.3 degrees Celsius

As per IMD’s weekly forecast, the minimum and maximum temperatures are expected to hover around 7 and 22 degrees Celsius respectively on Sunday. While fog is expected in the morning hours, the sky will remain clear during the day.