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Lucknow weather: Smog cancels India-SA match as AQI breaches 200 mark at some places
Lucknow weather: Three of the six monitoring stations in the city witnessed ‘poor’ air quality on Wednesday.
A thick layer of smog blanketed some areas in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, on Wednesday, as three monitoring stations in the city recorded an Air Quality Index (AQI) above 200.
The haze also led to the cancellation of the cricket match between India and South Africa at the Ekana stadium in the city.
The average AQI in the city, as of 7:45 pm on Wednesday, was recorded at 174 i.e. in the ‘moderate’ category, according to data from the Central Pollution Control Board. Three of the six monitoring stations – Kendriya Vidyalaya, Lalbagh, and Talkatora District Industries Center – witnessed ‘poor’ air quality.
Talkatora District Industries Center recorded the worst air quality with an AQI reading of 259, while the monitoring station at BR Ambedkar University had the best AQI reading of 99.
While the daily average AQI in Lucknow has improved in comparison to last week and has been in the ‘moderate’ category for three days now, some places in the city are still experiencing poor air quality.
The city had witnessed an average AQI above 200 from December 11 to December 14. Foggy mornings have continued to affect visibility in the city, according to an earlier HT report, even as there has been a delay in the onset of winter conditions.
“Overall, the weather will stay dry and not particularly chilly. However, foggy mornings will persist, especially in the early hours,” Mohammad Danish, a scientist with the meteorological department, told HT. Danish said that the winter conditions in north India are generally triggered by the Western disturbances, adding that the present one “e is not strong enough to carry cold air.”
The slight improvement in the city's air quality this week has been due to the mild winds, experts said. The same gentle winds that have kept winter away have swept pollutants from the city’s air, they explained.
