Noida: Cold wave unlikely to return, air quality dips

NOIDA: Although Tuesday is expected to see a minimum temperature of 4 degrees Celsius, the weather department has predicted that the cold wave is unlikely to return to Noida.

The city’s minimum temperature may hover around 9 to 10 degrees Celsius from February 4 onwards, against the current 5 to 7 degrees Celsius, said officials of the India Meteorological Department (IMD).

Also, the air quality of Noida, Greater Noida and Ghaziabad deteriorated on Monday, shows data from the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).

The mercury will begin rising with an upcoming western disturbance – a weather phenomenon leading to rains in the NCR -- from February 4 (Wednesday), the officials said.

“The mercury will drop slightly on Tuesday due to Monday’s clear sky, as around clear sky earth radiates the heat out of the atmosphere. But due to the western disturbance from Wednesday, the wind directions will change to slight warmer easterly increasing the mercury. Also, there are chances of rains on February 4 and 5, after which the mercury will further rise. The cold waves may end here for the season,” said Kuldeep Srivastava, head, regional weather forecasting centre, IMD.

According to IMD, the minimum temperature for Noida on Monday was recorded at 7.3 degrees Celsius against 5.3 degrees a day earlier. The maximum temperature of the city was 25.2 degrees Celsius on Monday against 20.9 degrees Celsius on Sunday.

The average minimum and maximum temperatures for NCR, based on the Safdarjung observatory, were 5.3 degrees and 23.1 degrees Celsius, respectively.

Meanwhile, Noida and adjoining cities saw a worsened air quality as the wind speed dropped. With Ghaziabad already under severe category, the weather department sees no significant improvement over next few days due to poor ventilation conditions.

“The wind speed on Monday was low at around 6 kmph only due to which the particle pollutants did not disperse. The wind directions may change over the next two days that would further lead to poorer ventilation as the wind speed would further drop. We see no significant improvement in pollution levels till February 4,” said Srivastava.

According to CPCB, the air quality index (AQI) of Noida on Monday was 369 against 331 a day earlier. Greater Noida’s AQI was 384 on Monday against 352 a day earlier, while Ghaziabad recoded an AQI of 412 or ‘severe’ against 394 a day earlier.

An AQI between 101 and 200 is considered ‘moderate’, between 201 and 300 is ‘poor’, between 301 and 400 is ‘very poor’ and above 400 is considered ‘severe’.

According to the System of air quality and weather forecasting and research (SAFAR), the air quality may worsen slightly and only improve after two days. “Surface winds are calm. The AQI is likely to marginally deteriorate but within the high end of very poor category for next two days. AQI is forecasted to marginally improve and in the middle-end of the very poor category on February 4,” it said.