After over a fortnight, air quality to improve
GHAZIABAD: The air quality index (AQI) in the three cities of Ghaziabad, Greater Noida and Noida remained in the “very poor” category on Saturday, but on the basis of a forecast, officials said the conditions are likely to improve as strong winds may arrive by November 21, according to officials.
According to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), Ghaziabad, Greater Noida and Noida recorded the air quality index on Saturday at 344, 322 and 356.
“Forecasts indicate that the wind speed will pick up from November 21, which will help in speedy disposal of trapped pollutants. This will improve the air quality index. As of now, the daytime air quality index at monitoring stations is better than night-time readings when wind slows down,” said Utsav Sharma, regional officer of Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board (UPPCB).
An air quality index reading between 101 and 200 is considered ‘moderate’, between 201 and 300 ‘poor’, between 301 and 400 ‘very poor’, and above 400 ‘severe’.
According to the forecast by the Ministry of Earth Sciences’ System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (Safar), the situation is likely to improve as the percentage share of stubble burning incidents have reduced considerably and the north-westerly winds, resulting in the slowing down of the impact.
“From November 21 to 23, surface winds are likely to be strong, resulting in effective dispersion which improves air quality. Transport level winds coming from northwest direction are likely to be strong from November 21 to 23, flushing out locally emitted pollutants from Delhi to the south-east region that is expected to improve the air quality further to the lower end of the ‘very poor’ or ‘poor’ category in Delhi.
The contribution of farm fires (752) to Delhi’s PM2.5 is negligible,” the Safar forecast
Delhi said.
GreaterNoida Gurugram Ghaziabad
Capital AQI in upper reaches of ‘very poor’ Delhi’s air quality remained in the upper reaches of the ‘very poor’ category on Saturday, improving marginally from Friday’s reading of 380, to touch 374 on Saturday, according to the CPCB’s daily bulletin.
Delhi recorded a minimum temperature of 14.5 degrees Celsius on Saturday morning, two degrees above normal, and up sharply from 10.9°C on Friday morning.
The Indian weather office attributed this rise in mercury over the last 24 hours to a dense cloud formation on Friday night that it says took place due to a depression in the Bay of Bengal.
“There was a lot of moisture and with clouds, the minimum temperature does not fall too low. Northwesterly winds will start blowing again towards Delhi from Sunday and while this tends to increase the stubble contribution, local surface winds will be good,” said RK Jenamani, scientist at the India Meteorological Department.
He said wind speeds could touch 15km/hr on Sunday afternoon, with surface winds of 20-30 km/hr likely on Monday.