Coldest morning, air remains ‘poor’
NEW DELHI: The national capital woke up to an unusually cold morning on Monday, with the minimum temperature falling to 15.3 degree Celsius, three notches below the average of the transitionary phase between monsoon and winter, India Meteorological Department (IMD) officials said.
The cold winds also helped bring down the capital’s air quality index (AQI) values by a few digits to 272, though it remained in the ‘poor’ category. The AQI value stood at 292 on Sunday.
The maximum temperature, too, was recorded at 31.2 degrees Celsius, a notch below the season’s average. The IMD officials attributed the unusual dip in the mercury to another spell of snowfall in Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh that triggered the advent of westerly winds.
“A recent spell of snow in J& K and Himachal Pradesh triggered a flow of cold winds bringing down the temperature. Usually the temperature falls below 20 degrees Celsius during Octoberend,” a senior IMD official said.
However, the temperature is set to rise to normal again over the weekend, the official added. The maximum and minimum temperatures on Tuesday are expected to remain around 32 and 16 degrees Celsius.
Also, the wind speed picked up on Monday to 6 kmph enabling pollutants to disperse in the air. However, even though the overall AQI improved by a few digits, nine of the 36 monitoring stations in the city recorded ‘very poor’ AQI values. However, air quality levels are expected to deteriorate in the latter part of the week due to unfavourable meteorological conditions, officials in the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) said.
Meanwhile, the air quality in Ghaziabad and Gurugram remained in the ‘very poor’ category. Pollution in the region has only slightly improved, despite the implementation of the graded response action plan (Grap), which came into effect from October 15 in Delhi-ncr.
“The improvement in the air quality is due to wind speeds marginally increasing and the advent of the strong westerly winds. Good winds help pollutants disperse. However, as per inputs from the MET, winds are likely to remain calm over the coming days, which, coupled with fires and local emissions, is expected to trigger a spike in pollution levels,” a CPCB official said.