Delhi under orange alert as fog persists, air quality remains ‘very poor’

An orange alert remained in place, and the IMD warned of possible moderate to dense fog later in the day. For Sunday and Monday, a yellow alert has also been issued

New Delhi: Delhi witnessed moderate fog in the early hours of Saturday as air quality worsened, with the air remaining in the ‘very poor’ category, while the minimum temperature dipped sharply to 6.1 degrees Celsius.

Moderate fog is likely at many places in the city, with dense fog in isolated places, an IMD official said. (Raj K Raj/ HT Photo)

An orange alert remained in place, and the India Meteorological Department (IMD) warned of possible moderate to dense fog later in the day. For Sunday and Monday, a yellow alert has also been issued.

“Moderate fog is likely at many places in the city, with dense fog in isolated places,” an IMD official said.

The air quality index (AQI) recorded at 8 am on Saturday stood at 384, marginally higher than the 24-hour average of 382 logged on Friday afternoon, according to Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) data.

Meanwhile, forecasts by the Air Quality Early Warning System (AQEWS) for Delhi suggest that the AQI is expected to deteriorate to the severe category by the end of the week.

“The air quality is likely to be in the very poor category on Saturday. The air quality is likely to be in the severe category from Sunday to Monday. The outlook for the subsequent six days is that the air quality is likely to be in the severe to very poor category,” the AQEWS bulletin said.

According to IMD data, visibility over Palam was around 700 m at 1.30 am. Till 8.30 am, the lowest visibility observed was 200 m at Safdarjung and 350 m over Palam.

IMD classifies fog as shallow when visibility is between 500 m and 1,000 m, moderate when it is between 200 m and 500 m, dense when it ranges from 50 m to 200 m, and very dense when visibility falls below 50 m.

According to data from Flightradar24, the airport continued to experience disruptions, with more than 200 flights already delayed by 9 am.

The minimum temperature, meanwhile, saw a sharp dip and was logged at 6.1 degrees Celsius, two degrees below normal. The minimum was recorded at 9 degrees Celsius a day earlier.

With temperatures expected to fall over the weekend and wind speed remaining calm, experts expressed concerns about a further spike in pollution levels due to temperature inversion and unfavourable meteorological conditions.