Delhi wakes up to dense fog, air quality in ‘very poor’ category at 375 AQI

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) said that the wind direction in Delhi was now northwesterly, which is expected to bring down mercury once more, lowering the minimum temperature on Saturday

Delhi on Saturday woke up to a thick layer of fog while the 24-hour average Air Quality Index (AQI) continued to remain in the ‘very poor’ category at 375 at 10am.

On Friday, Delhi’s 24-hour AQI was recorded at 372 at 4 pm, while it was 401 (severe) on Thursday at 7pm (Representative Photo)

On Friday, Delhi’s 24-hour AQI was recorded at 372 at 4 pm, while it was 401 (severe) on Thursday at 7pm.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) said that the wind direction in Delhi was northwesterly, which is expected to bring down mercury once more, lowering the minimum temperature on Saturday.

Forecasts show that there will be no significant change in meteorological conditions over the weekend either, with wind speeds to touch around 5-6km/hr during the daytime and pre-dominantly stay calm at night. This is likely to keep the capital’s AQI at ‘very poor’ for the start of December.

“Delhi’s air quality is likely to remain in the ‘very poor’ category from December 2 to 4. The outlook for subsequent six days also shows the air quality is likely to remain in the ‘very poor’ category,” said forecasts by the Early Warning System (EWS) for Delhi, a forecasting model used by the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) in NCR.

According to the Central Pollution Control Board, the AQI in Delhi’s Anand Vihar was recorded at 388, in Ashok Vihar at 386, in Lodhi Road at 349, and Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium at 366.

Kuldeep Srivastava, a scientist at IMD, said winds are failing to cross 6 km/hr during the day, with the remaining almost calm at night, a phenomenon expected to continue in the coming days.

“Delhi may have been marginally helped as winds did not become completely calm at Palam during the night. Otherwise, we have not seen any change in meteorological conditions,” he said, stating the city witnessed moderate fog on Friday, with visibility dipping down to 400 metres in the early hours.

There was a marginal dip in Delhi’s air quality index (AQI) on Friday as it returned to the ‘very poor’ category after briefly touching the ‘severe’ range a day earlier. Delhi’s 24-hour AQI was recorded at 372 (very poor) as per Central Pollution Control Board’s national bulletin at 4 pm on Friday. It was 398 (very poor) at the same time on Thursday and 401 (severe) at 7 pm.