Drizzle improves city’s air quality

LUCKNOW:The light drizzle, which the city witnessed on Sunday, reduced the air pollution levels drastically. The Air Quality Index (AQI) was recorded at 183 here on Monday that was ‘moderate’ as compared to Sunday’s AQI of 366, which fell in the ‘very poor’ category.

The AQI of Kanpur city also improved from Sunday’s 396 (very poor) to 278 (poor).

“Rain episodes wash out water soluble pollutants and particulate matter (PM) from the ambient air. It is observed that small intensity rain reduces particulate matter by 10 to 25 per cent. However, the main factor in the reduction is the wind associated with the rain. As dispersion increases, the pollutants travel with the wind,” said Venkatesh Dutta, associate professor at Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University, Lucknow.

However, the professor cautioned that the reduction was short term. The fact is that air quality will once again deteriorate in the coming days with decline in temperature and wind speed.The drizzle also led to rise in the minimum temperature. The night temperature here on Sunday was recorded at 11.6 degree Celsius that was four degree above normal.

The forecast for Lucknow on Tuesday is clear sky with shallow to moderate fog very likely in the morning. Maximum and minimum temperature would hover around 22 and 9 degree Celsius respectively.

The met department has issued warning of dense to very dense fog very likely at isolated places across the state. It has also cautioned that cold wave conditions are very likely to prevail at these places.