NEW DELHI: DELHI’s air quality saw a temporary improvement on Monday morning, with the Air Quality Index (AQI) dipping below the 300 mark for the first time since late October.
According to data from the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), the city’s AQI stood at 285 (classified as ‘poor’) at 9am, the lowest since October 29, when it was 268. However, by night, the AQI surged back above 400 at many monitoring stations, indicating a return to ‘severe’ levels.
As of 9:30pm, the CPCB’s Sameer App reported that 24 out of 38 stations recorded AQI levels ranging from 300 to 400, while 14 stations reported AQI levels above 400. For the past week, Delhi’s air quality had been consistently in the ‘severe’ or ‘severe plus’ category, prompting the implementation of the Stage-4 restrictions under the Supreme Court-mandated Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) to curb pollution, which include a ban on construction and industrial activities. On Sunday, however, there was some improvement, with none of the monitoring stations recording AQI in the ‘severe’ range, compared to 20 stations on Saturday.
Monday morning also saw shallow fog, with visibility dipping to 900 meters at Safdarjung. The minimum temperature was recorded at 14 degree Celsius, two degrees above the normal for this time of year.
The maximum temperature on Sunday reached 29.1°C, and is expected to hover around 28°C on Monday. The CPCB’s data showed that out of Delhi’s 38 monitoring stations, 15 were categorized as ‘very poor’ in the morning, while the rest were in the ‘poor’ category. Lodhi Road was the only station reporting a ‘satisfactory’ AQI of 95 at 9 a.m. However, by night, even Lodhi Road’s AQI had climbed to 175.
The CPCB classifies AQI as 0-50 (good), 51-100 (satisfactory), 101-200 (moderate), 201-300 (poor), 301-400 (very poor), and above 400 (severe).
The Centre’s Early Warning System for Delhi (EWS) predicted that the AQI would gradually return to ‘very poor’ levels on Monday, with levels remaining over 300 on Tuesday.The Meteorological Department has also predicted consistent wind speeds for the coming days.
Mahesh Palawat, Vice President at Skymet Meteorology, explained that the improvement in air quality on Sunday was due to the impact of a western disturbance and an increase in wind speeds.
“On Sunday, during the day, winds touched 15 km/h, which led to a significant improvement in AQI,” he said.