City shivers at 7.5 degrees Celsius; air quality drops further - Hindustan Times
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City shivers at 7.5 degrees Celsius; air quality drops further

By, Gurugram
Nov 29, 2020 10:47 PM IST

The city recorded its lowest minimum temperature of this season at 7.5 degrees Celsius on Sunday — three degrees below the previous day’s minimum temperature of 10.5 degrees Celsius. Sunday’s minimum temperature was also three degrees below the normal for this time of the year. The city recorded a maximum temperature of 24.5 degrees Celsius on Sunday.

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IMD officials on Sunday said that below-normal minimum temperatures are likely over most subdivisions of north, northwest, central and few subdivisions over east India during the winter season — December to February — this time. As per the IMD’s weekly forecast, the maximum temperature will hover around 25 degrees Celsius while the minimum temperature is expected to stay at 9 degrees on Monday. As per the weekly forecast, clear skies will prevail on Monday.

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The city’s air quality stayed in the “poor” category for the second consecutive day on Sunday, recording a reading of 242 on the Central Pollution Control Board’s (CPCB) daily air quality index (AQI) bulletin — a fall from Saturday’s AQI reading of 204. Experts attributed the deterioration to slow wind speeds due to which pollutants couldn’t be dispersed.

The level of ultrafine particulate matter having a diameter of 2.5 microns or less (PM 2.5) — the city’s primary pollutant — also increased and was recorded at 143.9 micrograms per cubic metre (µg/m3) on Sunday, as per the data by CPCB’s air quality monitor at Vikas Sadan in Sector 11. The concentration of PM2.5 pollutants on the previous day stood at 109 ug/m3.

According to the early air quality warning system for the National Capital Region (NCR), the air quality is likely to remain in the very poor category on Monday and Tuesday owing to unfavourable meteorological conditions for the dispersal of pollutants.

In the national Capital, air quality also deteriorated as a consequence of a marginal increase in farm fires in neighbouring states and slower winds over the region, government agencies said.As per the CPCB, the AQI for Delhi was recorded at 256 on Sunday, up from 231 the previous day, both categorised as “poor”.

Sachin Panwar, a Gurugram-based independent air quality scientist, said that the air quality had deteriorated on account of slow winds due to which pollutants couldn’t be dispersed. He said that with falling temperature in the morning hours and thermal inversion, the air quality is expected to deteriorate further as the temperature falls. “As winter sets in, the morning temperature will fall day by day. Right now, since the presence of fog is not significant; the air quality is still better. Once the fog starts setting in, air quality will become poorer due to greater accumulation of pollutants,” said Panwar.

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