High wind brings down pollution; colder days ahead in Noida

The minimum temperature was 9 degrees Celsius on Thursday, it is expected to be around 7 degrees Celsius on Saturday and 5 degrees Celsius on Monday

Despite increasing congestion in Greater Noida over the past few days, pollution levels dropped drastically from ‘severe’ to ‘poor’ category from Tuesday to Wednesday, and again increased marginally to the ‘very poor’ category on Thursday.

HT Image

The air quality index in Greater Noida was 418 (severe) on Tuesday, which dropped to 294 (poor) on Wednesday and increased slightly to 308 (very poor) on Thursday. In Noida, the AQI went from 393 (very poor) on Tuesday to 272 (poor) on Wednesday and again to 322 on Thursday (very poor).

Officials said the increased wind speed and better weather conditions helped reduce pollution levels in the city.

“This fluctuation is because of the wind speed and less fog. Only because of high winds, the pollutants were able to disperse and AQI improved on Wednesday. As wind reduced, the pollution level increased a little on Thursday. However, the situation is good considering the increasing number of vehicles in Greater Noida in the past few days due to the Auto Expo,” said Radhe Shyam, regional officer, Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board, Greater Noida.

According to data from the Indian Meteorological Department, wind speed ranged from 8-10 kmph in the Delhi-National Capital Region on Tuesday, which increased to 12-16 kmph on Wednesday and Thursday. It is expected to reduce again on Friday to the 8-12 kmph range. The wind direction will be south-east on January 13 and will change to north-west from January 14.

“Partly cloudy sky with possibility of very light drizzle is expected on the night of January 12 while moderate fog may be seen on Friday morning,” states the IMD forecast.

Meanwhile, temperature is expected to fall further in the next two days. While the minimum temperature was 9 degrees Celsius on Thursday, it is expected to be around 7 degrees Celsius on Saturday and 5 degrees Celsius on Monday.

With increasing traffic in Greater Noida, the UPPCB sent a notice to the management of Expo Mart to take all necessary preventive measures to control pollution such as regular water sprinkling and using smog guns.

“According to their own estimates, there may be at least 100,000 vehicles in the area every day for the duration of the Expo, which will drastically increase pollution levels, especially because one of our monitoring stations is nearby. We have asked them to ensure that at least two smog guns are stationed around the site and water sprinkling is done regularly throughout the day,” said Shyam.