PUNE As Diwali celebrations began in the city, air quality deteriorated on Thursday. Along with firecrackers, Pune also reported very light rainfall late on Thursday evening. As per the India Meteorological Department (IMD), Shivajinagar reported 1.4mm of rainfall followed by Lohegaon which reported 1mm of rainfall.
Bhosari, Aundh, parts of Pashan, Pimpri and other parts of the city also reported a drizzle on Thursday.
As per the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (Safar), air quality the morning of November 5 will be very poor due to burning of firecrackers on Thursday evening and early on Friday morning.
The air quality on Thursday was moderate in most parts of the city till 4 pm. Overall, the Air Quality Index (AQI) was 98 till 4pm on Thursday.
Throughout the day, Shivajinagar, Kothrud, and Nigdi reported moderate air quality. Pashan, Katraj, Hadapsar, Lohegaon, Bhosari, Alandi and Bhomkar chowk had satisfactory air quality on Thursday.
Dr BS Murthy, director at Safar and scientist at Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM) said that if it rains, the air quality is likely to deteriorate further.
“Due to drizzling, we may see that the air quality has worsened by Friday morning. However, the clear picture of how bad the air quality was on Thursday will be seen on Friday morning. Winter has already set in, with a 50 per cent additional firecracker scenario, Safar predicts that AQI will deteriorate to very poor on November 5,” said Dr Murthy.
{{/usCountry}}“Due to drizzling, we may see that the air quality has worsened by Friday morning. However, the clear picture of how bad the air quality was on Thursday will be seen on Friday morning. Winter has already set in, with a 50 per cent additional firecracker scenario, Safar predicts that AQI will deteriorate to very poor on November 5,” said Dr Murthy.
{{/usCountry}}As per Safar forecasts, on November 5, PM2.5 will be 125 making it very poor air quality. Overall air quality in the city will be 303 which falls in the category of very poor.
On Friday, forecasts suggest that areas like Shivajinagar, Hadapsar, Alandi, Bhosari, Nigadi and Bhumkar Chowk will have very poor air quality. Kothrud and Katraj will have poor air quality and Pashan will have moderate air quality.
Due to low temperatures, the minimum temperature in the city was 18-19 degrees Celsius. The mixing layer height is likely to be low and winds are expected to be calm leading to accumulation and hence, faster deterioration of air quality, added Dr Murthy.