Gurugram air quality deteriorates due to slow winds, poor ventilation

The city’s air quality entered the “poor” zone on Saturday with the Central Pollution Control Board’s (CPCB) bulletin recording the air quality index (AQI) at 230 — a significant rise from Friday’s AQI reading of 163 in the “moderate” category

The city’s air quality entered the “poor” zone on Saturday with the Central Pollution Control Board’s (CPCB) bulletin recording the air quality index (AQI) at 230 — a significant rise from Friday’s AQI reading of 163 in the “moderate” category. Gurugram, however, was the least polluted city in the National Capital Region (NCR) with the AQI in Delhi, Noida, Faridabad and Ghaziabad staying in the “very poor”category on Saturday.

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Experts attributed the deterioration in air quality to poor ventilation conditions due to which pollutants couldn’t be dispersed. “Due to slow winds and moisture in the atmosphere, the ventilation conditions were not favourable for the dispersal of pollutants. Better ventilation conditions are likely to prevail on Sunday,” said Sachin Panwar, a city-based air quality scientist. He said that an improvement in air quality could be expected on Monday and Tuesday since strong surface winds are expected.

According to the early air quality warning system for Delhi-NCR, the air quality on Sunday is likely to improve but remain in the “poor” category. Strong winds and better ventilation conditions are likely on January 10 and 11. The air quality is likely to remain in the “poor” to “moderate” category on Monday, followed by similar conditions over the next five days.

While the IMD’s automatic weather station (AWS) for Gurugram did not record either minimum or maximum temperature on Saturday, the India Meteorological Department’s AWS, in Palam in Delhi, recorded the day’s minimum temperature at 11.4 degrees Celsius and maximum temperature at 19.2 degrees Celsius. On Friday, the Palam AWS had recorded a minimum temperature of 11.2 degrees and a maximum of 15.4 degrees Celsius.

As per IMD’s weekly forecast, the maximum and minimum temperatures are expected to hover around 10 and 17 degrees Celsius respectively on Sunday. IMD officials said that the temperature would dip gradually in the coming days. “Shallow fog will prevail in the morning hours on Sunday and temperature will fall by a few degrees in the coming week. The minimum temperature is expected to be around 9 degrees on Monday,” said an official.

As per the IMD’s bulletin for the day, due to the prevalence of dry north/northwesterly winds over most parts of northwest India, the minimum temperature very likely to fall gradually by 3-5°Celsius during next 3-4 days causing cold wave conditions over Punjab, Haryana and north Rajasthan between January 11 and 13. The IMD has also predicted strong surface winds for January 11 and 12.