Pollution this year on verge of breaking smog record of 2016

NEW DELHI: One more day of “severe” levels of air pollution, and Delhi could break the record of the infamous 2016 smog, considered the worst in 17 years. Over the past seven days, the city has been reeling under “severe” levels of pollution, similar to conditions in November 2016.

But Met officials forecast that, by Tuesday afternoon, the air quality is expected to return to “very poor” levels, considered normal this time of the year.

This improvement was, however, not reflected in the day’s average AQI, which stood at 460, the same as Sunday.

The AQI is a 24-hour average, experts said. The actual improvement would be better reflected in the falling level of particulate matter.

“We expect the pollution to hit ‘very poor’ category by Tuesday once again. This improvement was expected by Sunday, but the sudden changes in local weather delayed the process,” said Gurgan Beig project director of SAFAR, maintained by the Union ministry of earth sciences.

Pollution levels first entered the “severe” zone on November 7. Officials said that pollution levels have been improving since November 9. The relief was shortlived as the air turned foul again from Saturday as AQI touched 460. But since Sunday, it has again started improving.

The changing wind pattern has helped, officials said.

While high altitude winds that usually bring in pollutants have slowed, surface level winds that help to flush out local pollutants are gathering speed.

“The speed of surface level winds, which had dropped from 7kmph on Friday to around 2kmph on Saturday evening, has again increased to 6kmph on Monday,” said a Met official.