One day before Diwali, Delhi woke up as “very poor” air qualityFriday morning, showing a marginal increase in the 24-hour average Air Quality Index (AQI) from the previous day. On Friday morning the AQI is 328 while on Thursday the AQI was 314.
The capital’s AQI was “severe” for six days, starting on November 6. Due to a change in wind speed, Delhi’s air quality improved marginally on Wednesday and Thursday, but scientists have warned that the respite from severe pollution will be short-lived. VK Soni, director of IMD’s environmental monitoring research center, said that the winds blowing over Delhi will begin to subside from Friday and that their direction will shift to the northwest, increasing the contribution of smoke from the Punjab and Haryana stubble. .
Smoke from agricultural fires contributed to just 3% of Delhi’s PM 2.5 levels on Wednesday, the lowest since October 14.
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“Although we have predicted that this Diwali is likely to be better compared to recent years, the weather is expected to be unfavorable. If people in the city break cookies, then the level of pollution could drop to ‘severe’ on Diwali and the day after, ”Soni said.
Kuldeep Srivastava, head of IMD’s regional weather forecast center, said that starting in the afternoon of Diwali the wind speed will drop to almost 6 km / h. “Starting on Diwali night, the air quality is likely to start to deteriorate. However, starting Sunday night the wind direction is expected to change again to the east and there is also the possibility of light rain, ”said Srivastava. The IMD forecast said wind speed is likely to improve starting Monday.
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The Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology’s Weather and Air Quality Research and Forecasting System (SAFAR) also released a similar forecast for Delhi’s air quality for Diwali weekend. “The impact induced by stubble burning on AQI is expected to increase from negligible to moderate over the next two days,” the SAFAR forecast reads.
The forecast added that even if residents don’t burn crackers, the PM 2.5 level is still expected to be at the upper end of the “very poor” category or at the lower end of the “severe” category. However, despite the unfavorable weather conditions, the forecast says that the AQI is expected to be better this year, compared to Diwali and the days after the festival for the past four years.
Meanwhile, IMD has forecast a foggy Friday morning and the low temperature is likely to be around 12 degrees Celsius, while the maximum temperature is forecast at around 30 degrees Celsius.
On Thursday, the low temperature for Delhi, recorded at the Safdarjung Observatory, which is considered the official reading for the city, was 11.6 degrees Celsius, two levels below normal. The maximum temperature was 29.2 degrees Celsius, one degree above normal.
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