Mercury on the rise in Noida, pollution levels go up

Noida: The streak of pleasant weather in the city and its adjoining areas seems to be breaking, with the weather analysts predicting the mercury to rise in the coming days

Noida: The streak of pleasant weather in the city and its adjoining areas seems to be breaking, with the weather analysts predicting the mercury to rise in the coming days.

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The trend began on Sunday, when the India meteorological Department (IMD) recorded a maximum and minimum temperature for Noida at 33.7 degrees Celsius and 23.4 degrees Celsius, respectively, a notch higher than Saturday’s against 32 degrees Celsius and 24 degrees Celsius, respectively.

The average temperatures are, however, still lower than the usual for this time of the year. At the Safdarjung monitoring station, considered an average for the National Capital Region, the maximum and minimum temperatures were recorded at 33.5 degrees Celsius – six degrees Celsius lower than the season’s average and 22.4 degrees Celsius, four degrees below the season’s average, respectively.

Experts said the mercury is expected to rise about four to five degrees over the next three days.

“The mercury will rise to 38-39 degrees Celsius over the next few days. There are no chances of rain for the next three days, so heat will rise during the day time,” said Mahesh Palawat, vice president, meteorology and climate change, Skymet.

Meanwhile, pollution levels in Noida, Greater Noida and Ghaziabad rose sharply from the ‘satisfactory’ to ‘poor’ levels.

According to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), the air quality index (AQI) of Noida on Sunday, on a scale of 0 to 500, was 241 against 60 a day earlier.

The AQI of Greater Noida was 226 against 72 a day earlier. Ghaziabad recorded an AQI of 227 on Sunday against 85a day earlier.

An AQI level up to 100 is considered ‘good’, between 101 and 200 is ‘moderate’, between 201 and 300 is ‘poor’, between 301 and 400 is ‘very poor’ and above 400 is considered ‘severe’.