Gurugram’s AQI deteriorates again, to remain ‘very poor’ for now

Gurugram: The city on Sunday witnessed foggy weather throughout the day with the air quality dipping to the ‘very poor’ category due to cool wind and a dip in temperature

Gurugram: The city on Sunday witnessed foggy weather throughout the day with the air quality dipping to the ‘very poor’ category due to cool wind and a dip in temperature.

Gurugram, India-December 04: Boys playing football amid cold and foggy weather at a ground at sector-29 near Leisure Valley Park, in Gurugram, India, on Sunday, 04 December 2022. (Photo by Parveen Kumar/Hindustan Times)

The air quality index (AQI) on Sunday was recorded at 318, with early morning fog reducing visibility. The AQI on Saturday was recorded at 300 and experts said that the air quality is likely to deteriorate further. A slight dip in the temperature and low wind speed are the reasons for the rise in air pollution as dissipation of pollutants is not taking place, said experts.

The AQI recorded by the Sector 51 monitoring station was 281, at Teri Gram it was 329, at Gwal Pahari 322, while at Vikas Sadan the AQI was 344.

On Sunday, the city recorded a minimum temperature of 10.6 degrees Celsius, while the maximum temperature was recorded at 24.1 degrees Celsius. The weather department said that there is likely to be no change in temperature during the night time. However, a western disturbance is likely to impact the weather system on Wednesday and Thursday.

As per the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (Safar), the temperatures are likely to drop gradually and will lead to occurrence of fog in the early morning across the national capital region (NCR). “AQI is likely to improve but will be within the ‘very poor’ category for the next three days due to moderate wind speed offsetting the effect of inversion/stable conditions that reduce efficiency of dispersion and ventilation,” it said.

The Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology in its forecast said that the air quality is likely to improve but remain in the ‘very poor’ category on Monday. The air quality is likely to improve further but remain in ‘very poor category’ on Wednesday and Thursday. For the subsequent six days, the air quality is likely to remain largely in the ‘very poor’ to ‘poor’ category, it said.