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AQI deteriorates in Gurugram; cold weather to return from Sunday
The city will also witness severe cold weather conditions from Sunday onwards as a fresh cold wave spell is likely to commence over northwestern India from January 1, said the India Meteorological Department (IMD). Due to the rise in the pollution, the Commission for Air Quality Monitoring (CAQM) on Friday also invoked stage three of the Graded Response Action Plan (Grap)
The air quality in the city deteriorated and entered the ‘very poor’ category on Friday with an air quality index (AQI) of 348.
According to the forecast by the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (Safar), the air quality is likely to deteriorate further in the coming days.
The city will also witness severe cold weather conditions from Sunday onwards as a fresh cold wave spell is likely to commence over northwestern India from January 1, said the India Meteorological Department (IMD).
Due to the rise in the pollution, the Commission for Air Quality Monitoring (CAQM) on Friday also invoked stage three of the Graded Response Action Plan (Grap), thereby implementing a construction ban across Delhi-NCR.
While the air quality deteriorated, Gurugram city witnessed sunny weather on Friday, like the previous two days.
The maximum temperature was recorded at 20.9 degrees Celsius, while the minimum was recorded at 11.7 degrees Celsius.
Manmohan Singh, director, IMD’s Chandigarh centre, said that dense fog will return in most parts of Haryana, including Gurugram for the next four to five days. “The weather is likely to remain dry for the next few days, but cold weather conditions will return in most parts of the state, including Gurugram and the temperatures are expected to dip by three to five degrees. Cold weather conditions will prevail over most of Haryana, Punjab and Chandigarh,” he said.
Singh also said that ‘dense’ to ‘very dense’ fog is also likely to be witnessed in most parts of northwestern India. “The northwesterly cold winds from the hills, which have received rainfall, will bring the temperatures down in Delhi-NCR, Punjab and Haryana,” he said.
Safar in its forecast on Friday said that for the next three days, the air quality is likely to deteriorate but will be within the ‘very poor’ category due to low temperature (helps in the accumulation of pollutants) and calm to moderate surface wind (enhances dispersion of pollutants). Foggy conditions in the morning hours will continue to prevail due to cold, dry wind from northwestern India, it said.
The Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology in its forecast said that the air quality is likely to deteriorate and reach the ‘severe’ category on Saturday and Sunday in Delhi-NCR. For the subsequent six days from Tuesday onwards, the air quality is likely to remain largely in the ‘very poor’ category, it said.
