Delhi’s air quality ‘very poor’, to deteriorate further this week: IMD

Scientists warned that in the coming days the wind speeds will also slow down, which will impact the air quality

The air quality in Delhi took a turn for the worse on Wednesday as the hourly average air quality index (AQI) at 7am reached 340, in the “very poor” zone.

Representational image. (Biplov Bhuyan/HT PHOTO)

Scientists warned that in the coming days the wind speeds will also slow down, which will impact the air quality.

Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) recordings show that on Tuesday, the overall AQI of Delhi was 293, in the “poor” zone. This was a marginal deterioration from Monday’s 243, which was also categorised in the “poor” zone.

Union ministry of earth science’s air quality monitoring centre, System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (Safar), said that the ventilation condition will worsen and wind speeds will drop from Wednesday afternoon.

“The AQI is likely to slip from the ‘poor’ to the lower end of ‘very poor’ category on Wednesday. Lower to middle end of the ‘very poor’ category is forecasted for January 14. AQI is likely to further deteriorate on January 15 to the higher end of the ‘very poor’ category due to calm winds and extremely low ventilation condition,” the Safar forecast read.

Meanwhile, the temperature on Tuesday is also likely to remain around 4 degrees Celsius, according to IMD.