Gurugram: Light rain, cleaner air, lower temperature on Jan 7-8

The respite from cold wave conditions was short-lived as the city, on Sunday, recorded a marginal dip in temperature, a generally cloudy sky and strong winds. With

The respite from cold wave conditions was short-lived as the city, on Sunday, recorded a marginal dip in temperature, a generally cloudy sky and strong winds. With the return of northwesterly winds, which are strong and cold, air quality is likely to improve and the day temperature is expected to drop by a degree or two. Similar conditions are likely to continue over the next two days, said scientists at the India Meteorological Department (IMD).

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“Air quality is likely to improve further because of the approaching Western Disturbance in the northwestern region. It is likely to induce rainfall and strong winds on January 7-8, and will help clear the air of pollutants,” said Kuldeep Srivastava, head of regional weather forecasting centre, Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), said, adding that there is a strong chance of “thunderstorm” with rain.

On Sunday, the minimum nighttime temperature fell to 7° Celsius, down from 8° Celsius on Saturday, while daytime temperature fell to 20° Celsius from 21.5° Celsius the previous day.

Till Tuesday, the minimum temperature in Gurugram is expected to remain between 8° and 9° Celsius while maximum temperature will hover between 16° and 18° Celsius, Shrivastava said.

AIR QUALITY

Meanwhile, air quality remained stable at 298 (‘poor’) on the CPCB’s daily air quality index (AQI) bulletin on Saturday and Sunday.

According to the early air quality warning system for Delhi-NCR, “air quality is likely to improve on January 6 and remain in lower end of very poor category... The air quality is likely to improve further on January 7 and remain in poor to moderate category owing to Light rain/ thunderstorm/ hailstorm and strong surface winds.”

According to a senior scientist at the CPCB’s air quality lab in Delhi, “Tuesday and Wednesday are likely to be good for cleaning up the air. With rains expected, wind speeds will also pick up, touching as much as 20 to 25 kmph.” As per a CPCB forecast, the predicted AQI for Gurugram on Tuesday is 239, and for Wednesday it is 199 (putting it back in the ‘moderate’) category of the AQI.