Delhi’s air quality index (AQI) deteriorated to the category of “severe” on Thursday for the first time this year, according to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). As of 1 p.m., the average AQI reading for Delhi was 402, according to data from the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).
This comes after a short respite on Wednesday. Air quality in the national capital plunged back into the “very poor” category on Thursday with an AQI reading of 381 based on CPCB data at 7 am.
By Wednesday, Delhi’s pollution levels had marginally improved and its AQI reading was in the “poor” category for the first time in six days due to the strong winds that blew over the city the day before.
Air quality enters the very poor zone between the 301-400 mark and crosses into the severe zone after exceeding 400. Delhi’s 24-hour AQI average reading was 297 on Wednesday, slightly down from 312 on Wednesday. Tuesday.
On October 23, ten of the 35 monitoring stations in the national capital showed that air quality had fallen to the category of “severe”.
Thursday’s deterioration in air quality comes a day after the capital’s average AQI reading improved to the “poor” category at 297. Pollution levels had dropped for the first time in six days due to the strong winds that blew over the city the day before.
The government’s air quality monitoring and forecasting service, Safar, said: “Extremely calm surface and boundary layer winds coupled with low nighttime boundary layer height resulted in low ventilation, virtually stagnant unconditionally. dispersion that have resulted in the current situation. Safar’s model predicts that AQI is likely to remain at the top end of the ‘very poor’ category with few placements in the ‘severe’ category for a short period today. [Thursday]. AQI is likely to improve marginally and remain in the ‘very poor’ category tomorrow [Friday] and for October 31 a significant improvement is expected from the lowest category from ‘very poor’ to ‘poor’ ”.
VK Soni, director of IMD’s environmental monitoring research center, said air quality is likely to deteriorate further on Thursday. However, he predicted that the city’s air will improve significantly between Friday and Sunday, and the wind speed is likely to reach 15 km / h on Friday.
“There is a trough formation, which will lead to a significant improvement in wind speed over the Capital and this will lead to a better dispersion of pollutants. Until Sunday, the forecast is that we will see an improvement in the air, ”Soni said.
.
