Air quality improves, temperature dips

THE SYSTEM OF AIR QUALITY WEATHER FORECASTING AND RESEARCH (SAFAR) HAS PREDICTED AN AQI OF 145 (MODERATE) FOR FRIDAY

MUMBAI:AFTER breathing ‘poor’ air for almost a week, the city recorded relatively cleaner air on Thursday. The pollutant-measuring indicator – air quality index (AQI) – was recorded at 138, falling under the ‘moderate’ category.

Andheri and Bandra-kurla Complex (BKC) were the mostpolluted locations, with AQI in the ‘poor category’ at 268 and 264 respectively. Worli recorded the cleanest air with an AQI of 25 (good).

AQI from 0-50 is considered ‘good’, 51-100 ‘satisfactory’, 101200 ‘moderate’, 201-300 ‘poor’, 301400 ‘very poor’, and 401 and above is ‘severe’.

The weather bureau said a rise in wind speed helped disperse pollutants. “During the last week, the city witnessed wind speed ranging between 0-2 knots (3 km/ h). On Thursday, this increased to 4-6 knots, (7-9km/h) allowing swift dispersal of small pollutant particles that were suspended close to the surface,” said Sunil Kamble, scientist, India Meteorological Department (IMD).

Meanwhile, after two days of above normal temperatures, the Colaba weather station recorded 29 degrees Celsius, almost one degree Celsius below normal, while Santacruz recorded 32.2 degrees Celsius, 1.1 degree Celsius above normal. According to weathermen, a clear sky has been predicted for Friday with day and night temperatures expected to be around 31 and 20 degrees Celsius respectively.

Moisture levels were high in south Mumbai as Colaba recorded 88% humidity but humidity level was much lower in the suburbs at 47%. “On Thursday, the duration of northerly winds was allowing temperatures to drop marginally,” said Kamble.