Schools in Noida, Ghaziabad to remain shut on Thursday and Friday due to cold

Schools in Noida, Ghaziabad and Greater Noida - all suburbs of Delhi — have been ordered shut for the next two days in view of intense cold.

“All schools up to class 12th in Greater Noida/ Noida will remain shut on Thursday and Friday due to cold waves/cold day and extreme weather conditions,” District magistrates of Gautam Budh Nagar and Ghaziabad said in respective orders.

At 7 degree Celsius, the season marked it’s lowest on Wednesday across NCR. According to India Meteorological Department (IMD), ‘cold days’ will continue till Friday, December 20.

Meanwhile, the air quality dipped from upper range of ‘poor’ to ‘very-poor’ due to weather conditions.

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“Today Safdarjung registered season’s lowest minimum temperature of 7 degree Celsius. The Safdarjung observations are taken as representative of Delhi and NCR. Mercury is likely to rise abating ‘cold day’ condition from tomorrow onwards from Delhi-NCR, as western disturbance will start affecting our plains of northwest from December 20. Saturday may see very light rain in the region,” said Kuldeep Srivastava, head, regional weather forecasting centre (RWFC), IMD.

A day is considered ‘cold day’ when the maximum temperature (excluding mountain regions) is below 15 degree Celsius.

On Wednesday, the maximum temperature hovered around 18 degree Celsius, five notches below the season’s average, against 12.2 degrees a day earlier. The minimum temperature was 7 degrees, a notch below the season’s average against 10.4 degree Celsius a day earlier.

Meanwhile, the air quality of Noida, Greater Noida and Ghaziabad deteriorated due to weather conditions and local emissions.

According to the central pollution control board (CPCB), the air quality index (AQI) of Noida and Greater Noida on Wednesday, on a scale of 0 to 500, was 318 considered ‘very-poor’, against 211 a day earlier. The AQI of Ghaziabad was 340 or ‘very-poor’ against 238 a day earlier.

According to the System for Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR), the air quality will remain very poor for a few days and minimum temperature is likely to fall.

“A decrease in wind speed is forecasted for next two days. The SAFAR model suggests AQI is likely to deteriorate towards the very poor category by tomorrow. On December 20 and 21 AQI is likely to stay in lower to middle end of very poor category,” said SAFAR forecast.