Air quality ‘satisfactory’; mercury might dip
NEWDELHI: Delhiites can expect a weekend of even cleaner air and relatively colder evenings, scientists at the India Meteorological Department (IMD) have forecasted.
The air in the national Capital on Friday improved to the ‘satisfactory’ category, after a gap of almost two months. According to Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) data, the overall air quality index (AQI) of the city was 84. On Thursday, the average AQI was 106 in the ‘moderate’ zone.
IMD scientists said that strong gusts of wind on Thursday evening helped the city breathe easy throughout Friday. At 7am, the AQI was 77 but by afternoon it deteriorated marginally to reach 86. Experts said over the weekend, air quality is expected to hover in ‘satisfactory’ to ‘moderate’ category.
“There is no major change in conditions expected over the weekend. The wind speed will remain 10-12 kmph till Tuesday. After December 4, however, there is a possibility of winds slowing down,” said IMD’S regional forecasting centre head, Kuldeep Srivastava.
He added that on Saturday and Sunday, the temperature is expected to dip slightly. On Friday, the maximum temperature was 24.9 degrees Celsius, a notch below normal, while the minimum temperature was recorded 12.5 degrees Celsius, four degrees above normal.
“Over the next two days, the minimum temperature is likely to be around nine-10 degrees Celsius, while the maximum will also go down to around 24 degrees Celsius,” he said.
However, experts said this time the temperature is marginally higher than the normal recordings of the same time last year.
Normally the minimum temperature reaches nine degrees Celsius by November-end. This time, however, the minimum is expected to fall to this range from December 2 to December 7.
Another IMD scientist confirmed that wind speed will fall after December 4, with chances of fog. However, the air quality will not witness any major deterioration.
“There may be a slight dip in temperature next week but the air will remain clean,” the senior scientist said.