Air quality worsens; no respite over next 2 days
NEW DELHI: The air quality worsened further in the national capital on Tuesday with concentration of particulate matter inching closer to the severe zone gradually throughout the day.
Government agencies have forecast that chances of respite are remote in the next two to three days at least, as the air would continue to remain in the very poor zone.
Weather forecasting agencies have said the night temperature could drop to nine degrees Celsius over the weekend.
The air quality index (AQI), which stood at 336 on Monday, shot up to 352 on Tuesday. It is likely to deteriorate further on Wednesday. Chances of the AQI breaching the severe mark are, however, is less this time.
“The air quality would continue to deteriorate further on Wednesday. The deterioration would be, however, gradual. It is likely to improve from Thursday but would continue to remain in the very poor zone over the next few days,” said a scientist from Safar, the union government’s pollution forecasting agency.
Even though the overall AQI of Delhi remained in the ‘very poor’ zone, many stations such as Wazirpur, Mundka, Anand Vihar, Dwarka and Nehru Nagar entered the severe zone in the day and recorded AQI values above 400.
On a scale of 0-500, an AQI value between 301 and 400 is considered to be very poor and a value between 401 and 500 is considered to be severe.
“Meteorological conditions are not favourable at the moment. Winds have slowed down and south-easterly winds are bringing in moisture, which is why pollutants are getting trapped,” said a scientist from CPCB. The concentration of PM2.5, the more harmful of particulate matter, shot up to 213μg/ m3 at 11am. The safe standard is 60μg/m3 and the severe mark is 230μg/m3.
On Tuesday, the minimum temperature was recorded at 10.7 degrees Celsius, which was one degree above normal. The day temperature stood at 28.4 degrees Celsius, which was three degrees above normal. “The temperature could drop to around nine degrees Celsius over the weekend,” said a senior official of the IMD’S regional weather forecasting centre.