Winds help improve air quality in Noida

Noida: The air quality of Noida and its adjoining regions improved on Friday due to high wind speeds and better ventilation, data from the weather department revealed

Noida: The air quality of Noida and its adjoining regions improved on Friday due to high wind speeds and better ventilation, data from the weather department revealed.

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Noida, Greater Noida and Ghaziabad’s air quality improved significantly on Friday since the past week, though the air quality in Ghaziabad continued to hover in the poor category.

The pollution monitoring agencies stated that the air quality will oscillate between moderate to poor category for the next few days, with PM10 or larger particles being the prominent pollutant due to dust.

According to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), the air quality index (AQI) of Noida on Friday was 153 against 187 a day earlier.

The AQI of Greater Noida was 193 against 254 on Thursday. Ghaziabad recorded an AQI of 202 on Friday against 242 on Thursday.

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

According to the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR), the coarser dust particles will impact the air quality of the region.

Meanwhile, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) stated that the maximum temperatures will rise by three to four degrees over the next few days. The maximum temperature may rise to 38 degrees Celsius by April 5.

On Friday, Noida recorded maximum and minimum temperatures of 33.9 degrees Celsius and 20.2 degrees Celsius respectively, against 33.6 and 21.6 degrees Celsius on Thursday. At the Safdarjung monitoring station, the weather monitoring agency which calculates the average for the National Capital Region, the maximum and minimum temperatures recorded were 34.4 degrees Celsius and 16.2 degrees Celsius respectively.

“High winds helped in keeping the daytime temperature in the region under control. The wind speed for the last two days has been oscillating between 30 to 45 kmph in the west and north-west direction. Though the winds are warmer now, the speed at which the winds is blowing is preventing the temperatures from rising. The wind speeds are likely to drop from Sunday onwards. The sky will be clear leading to a gradual increase in the mercury,” said Kuldeep Srivastava, head of the regional weather forecasting centre, IMD.