Noida breathes cleanest air of month

Noida: Noida and its adjoining areas breathed the cleanest air of the month so far as the air quality improved to the ‘poor’ zone after oscillating between ‘very

Noida: Noida and its adjoining areas breathed the cleanest air of the month so far as the air quality improved to the ‘poor’ zone after oscillating between ‘very poor’ and the more hazardous ‘severe’ for the past 15 days.

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The rain and moderate easterly winds washed away a heavy chunk of pollutants trapped in the city and adjoining areas for several days, bringing down the pollution levels.

According to weather analysts, the air quality is likely to improve slightly further on Tuesday but would slip slightly on Wednesday due to a change in wind direction.

“The region received good wind speed on Monday. The region received easterly winds of 14 kmph, which led to the dispersal of pollutants. The wind calmed down towards the evening and will change to north-westerly on Tuesday evening. On Tuesday evening, the wind speed will be around 8 to 10 kmph, which may bring smoke from stubble fires, if any, from the neighbouring states, which could lead to a slight drop in the air quality on Wednesday,” said Kuldeep Srivastava, head, regional weather forecasting centre, India Meteorological Centre (IMD).

According to the central pollution control board (CPCB), the air quality index (AQI) of Noida on Monday improved to 243 or ‘poor’ against 441 or ‘severe’ on Sunday. The AQI of Greater Noida was 226 against 417 on Sunday.

The AQI above 400 is considered severe, while that between 301 and 400 is considered ‘very poor’ and between 201 and 300 is ‘poor’.

The last time ‘poor’ category air quality was recorded in Noida was on November 2 with an AQI of 299. On October 20, Noida’s AQI was 219, the best since November 16.

The pollution mass also dropped drastically with the PM2.5 levels in the past 24 hours in Noida dropping to 113.71 microgrammes per cubic meters against 391.71 microgrammes per cubic meters a day earlier. The PM2.5 for Greater Noida also dropped to 105.73 units against 316.47 units on Sunday.

According to the System of air quality and weather forecasting and research (SAFAR), the AQI may improve further on Tuesday, but will soon deteriorate further slightly.

“Scattered rainfall in Delhi and surrounding regions washed out some of the pollutants. Effective stubble fire counts with sufficient potential estimated from SAFAR-multi-satellite products are significantly reduced and are around 282. However, in reality it could be an underestimate due to the inability of satellites to identify spots under cloudy conditions. A change in boundary layer wind direction is forecasted by tomorrow afternoon but since the fire-related emissions have reduced, significant impact is not expected. AQI is forecasted to marginally deteriorate on 18 and 19 November,” SAFAR said in statement on Monday.