Dense fog, spike in pollution likely today

IMD also warned that because of high moisture content in the air, there is a possibility of dense fog on Sunday morning.

Parts of the national capital received light rainfall on Saturday morning but it did not do much to bring down the temperature or clean the city’s air. Data from India Meteorological Department (IMD) showed that the minimum temperature on Saturday was 14.4°C, highest for the month of December since 2015. At the Safdarjung observatory, whose readings are taken as representative of the city, the minimum temperature rose to 14.4°C from 11.3 on Friday, six degrees above the season’s normal. The maximum temperature was 21.8°C. IMD records showed that on December 9, 2015, Delhi had recorded a minimum temperature of 15°C.

Vehicular traffic on a foggy Sunday at Burari, in New Delhi. (Amal KS/HT Photo)

Kuldeep Srivastava, head of IMD’s regional weather forecasting centre, said, “The minimum temperature is recorded early in the morning and today (Saturday) morning, we received rain. Since the temperature tends to rise during rainfall, we recorded a high minimum temperature.”

IMD also warned that because of high moisture content in the air, there is a possibility of dense fog on Sunday morning.

With the light rainfall, the pollution levels also took a nosedive on Saturday. CPCB data shows that the overall AQI reading of Delhi was 356, in the “very poor” zone, a deterioration from Friday’s 295, in the “poor” zone.