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Mumbai witnesses haze-laden muggy Saturday, pollution levels worsen
Some parts of the city recorded light rain on Saturday with thundershowers reported along the outskirts of the city.
The city witnessed hazy conditions with high humidity levels and cloud cover allowing air pollution to rise further on Saturday.
Some parts of the city recorded light rain on Saturday with thundershowers reported along the outskirts of the city. The absence of wind speed did not disperse pollutants leading to poor air quality, said researchers.
The pollutant measuring indicator - air quality index (AQI) - was recorded at 121 (moderate) on Saturday, which was the worst AQI since March. It was 118 (moderate) on Friday.
According to the System of Air Quality Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR), Saturday’s AQI was an average of nine locations in the city as the station at Bandra Kurla Complex has been defunct for over a week.
While major locations across the city recorded ‘moderate’ air quality, the most polluted location was Navi Mumbai (193), followed by Andheri (176) and Mazgaon (166). Colaba and Bhandup had the cleanest air with satisfactory air quality at 71 and 70.
SAFAR categorises AQI levels for PM2.5 in the 0-50 range as good; 51-100 as satisfactory; 101-200 as moderate; 201-300 as poor; 301-400 as very poor and above 400 as severe. An AQI of 111 (moderate) has been predicted for Sunday.
Humidity levels were at 89 percent in south Mumbai and 81 percent in the suburbs. “Owing to high moisture in the air, the city recorded higher pollution levels on Saturday as pollutant carrying capacity increases when there is more humidity. Also, wind speed is very low characteristic to the withdrawal period of monsoon,” said Gufran Beig, project director, SAFAR.
Meanwhile, the suburbs and south Mumbai recorded 0.2 and 0.3 mm rain between 8.30 and 5.30 pm. Thane recorded 5.6 mm rain. The city and suburbs could expect partly cloudy conditions on Sunday with the possibility of light rain. “The presence of low-pressure weather system over the Bay of Bengal is activating monsoon currents over central India leading to thundershowers for the coast and interior Maharashtra,” said KS Hosalikar, deputy director-general western region, India Meteorological Department (IMD).
