Good winds helped Delhi breathe relatively cleaner air on Thursday as the Air Quality Index (AQI) improved to the lower end of the ‘very poor’ zone after staying in the ‘severe’ zone for a day .
Air quality may improve to “poor” by Friday and continue to do so for at least the next three days, government agencies have predicted.
According to the 4 p.m. bulletin from the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), the average AQI stood at 302 compared to 413 on Wednesday and 379 on Tuesday.
The levels of particulate matter (PM) were also significantly reduced. On Thursday night, PM 10 (coarse dust particles) levels dropped to 218ug / m3 compared to 410 ug / m3 at the same time the day before. Levels of PM 2.5 (the most harmful aerosols in Delhi’s air) also fell to 133 ug / m3 from 243ug / m3 on Wednesday.
Scientists from the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) said the improvement was mainly due to a change in wind direction and speed. Traces of rain were observed at the Lodhi Road and Ridge weather stations. The Safdarjung Observatory, the city’s official weather marker, did not record any rain.
VK Soni, from IMD’s environmental monitoring research center, said that with the impact of stubble burning being almost negligible, good winds helped disperse local pollutants.
“The wind speed was around 10-12 km / h. The wind direction changed northwest in the afternoon from the east. We expect the wind speed to remain high for the next three days. Air quality is likely to improve in the ‘poor’ area and will remain so until at least November 30, ”Soni said.
According to the Weather and Air Quality Research and Forecasting System (SAFAR), the air quality forecast wing of the Union Ministry, the proportion of stubble burned to the city’s PM 2.5 levels on Thursday was of about 1% with such a low number of fires. like 37.
COLD WAVE
The IMD had also predicted cold snap conditions in Delhi from November 27. “Due to the influence of a western disturbance over Afghanistan and neighboring areas, there are likely to be quite widespread rains and snowfalls, as well as isolated hail storms, over Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Gilgit-Baltistan, Muzaffarabad and Himachal Pradesh from November 25, which will result in cold temperatures in Delhi as well, ”said Kuldeep Srivastava, head of IMD’s regional weather forecast center.
He said the minimum temperature is likely to remain between 6 and 7 degrees C until the end of November. “The sky will be clear again, and this will cool the surface faster and lower the temperature by the end of the week,” Srivastava said.
On Thursday, the low temperature was 10.4 degrees C, one level below normal. The maximum was 25.8 degrees C, normal for this time of year.
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