Delhi AQI: Rain, Stronger Winds Help Clear Delhi Air, AQI in ‘Moderate’ Category | Delhi News

NEW DELHI: Air quality in the national capital improved significantly to the ‘moderate’ category on Tuesday as rain and stronger winds helped reduce pollution levels, authorities said.
Track the pollution level in your city
According to the SAMEER mobile app of the Central Pollution Control Board, the city recorded an air quality index of 168, which falls into the ‘moderate’ category, much better than Monday’s AQI of 221, which falls into the category ‘poor’.

However, the Earth Sciences Ministry’s air quality monitor SAFAR said the improvement will be short-lived and the AQI is likely to fall back into the “poor” category on Thursday.

The city’s 24-hour average AQI was 435 on Sunday and 414 on Saturday.
An AQI between 0 and 50 is considered ‘good’, 51 and 100 ‘satisfactory’, 101 and 200 ‘moderate’, 201 and 300 ‘poor’, 301 and 400 ‘very poor’ and 401 and 500 ‘severe’.
According to SAFAR, Delhi’s overall air quality is in the “moderate” category as of Tuesday morning.
“The surface winds are from west to southwest and strong, very favorable for the dispersal of pollutants. The rains together with stronger winds under the influence of the western disturbance helped to clean up the accumulation of pollution in the Indo-Gangetic Plain,” he said.
He also said that effective stubble fire counts with sufficient potential estimated from SAFAR-multi-satellite products dropped significantly to around 98.
“The wind direction in the boundary layer is northwest. However, since fire-related emissions have been significantly reduced, no significant impact is expected. The proportion of stubble burning in PM2.5 in the air of Delhi is almost negligible and is estimated at a marginal 3% for today, “SAFAR said.
However, he said the significant improvement to the AQI will be short-lived.
The AQI is likely to fall back into the “poor” category on Thursday.
“The AQI is forecast to deteriorate further to the upper end of ‘Poor’ to the lower end of the ‘Very Poor’ category on November 19-20,” he said.