Winds improve air quality, mercury set to fall in Noida, Ghaziabad

Noida, Ghaziabad managed to get out of ‘severe’ category of air, as winds picked up from Thursday afternoon and improved the air quality by dispersing much of the local pollutants.

According to weather analysts, while the wind directions changed from easterly to north-westerly on Thursday, the air quality is expected to improve as instances of stubble burning in neighbouring states of Punjab and Haryana had dropped.

According to the IMD, the change in the winds direction will however lead to drop in temperature in the next two days. On Thursday, the air quality of Noida was ‘very poor’, while that of Ghaziabad and Greater Noida was poor.

“The wind speed on Thursday increased a little and reached 10 kmph throughout the day. Since the number of stubble burning incidents have almost stopped in the neighbouring states of Punjab and Haryana, the winds are no longer carrying any pollutants along and the speed is enough to ventilate local emissions,” said Kuldeep Srivastava, head, regional weather forecasting centre, IMD.

He added that north-westerly winds, entering the region via Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh, will however pull the mercury down by two to three degrees Celsius over the next two days.

According to the central pollution control board (CPCB), the air quality index (AQI) of Noida on Thursday was 301 against 414 a day earlier and 301 on Monday. The AQI of Greater Noida was 296 against 394 a day earlier. The AQI of Ghaziabad was 289 against 444 on Wednesday. An AQI between 201 and 300 is considered ‘poor’, that between 301 and 400 is considered ‘very poor’ and anything above 400 is considered ‘severe’.

The major pollutant PM2.5 also dropped drastically.

PM2.5 level for past 24-hours in Noida was recorded at 170.20 microgrammes per cubic metre, against 243.94 microgrammes per cubic metre a day earlier. The PM2.5 for Greater Noida was 164.01 microgrammes per cubic metre against 250.9 microgrammes per cubic metre a day earlier. The PM2.5 for Ghaziabad was 178.85 microgrammes per cubic metre against 331.23 microgrammes per cubic metre a day earlier. The safe limit for PM2.5 is 60 microgrammes per cubic metre.

According to the System of air quality and weather forecasting and research (SAFAR), the AQI is likely to improve in coming days.

“Winds are forecasted to pick up and improve the ventilation condition for the next two days. The AQI is forecasted to improve,” SAFAR said in a statement on Thursday.