Air quality in Delhi-NCR improves significantly due to strong winds

The air quality in Delhi improved significantly on Sunday due to strong winds but continued to remain in the "poor" category. The satellite cities of the national capital also saw significant improvement in the air quality with some having Air Quality Index (AQI) in the "moderate" category.

 

The air quality in Delhi-NCR is expected to remain in the "moderate" and "poor" categories for the next two days. At 4 pm, the AQI of Delhi was recorded at 215, which falls in the "poor" category.

 

The AQI in Faridabad was 197 (moderate), Ghaziabad 218 (poor), Greater Noida 202 (poor), Noida 203 (poor) and Gurgaon 136 (moderate). An AQI between 201 and 300 is considered "poor", 301-400 "very poor" and 401-500 severe". On Saturday, Delhi's AQI was recorded at 357, which falls in the "very poor" category.

 

Mahesh Talawat, vice president of Sky Met weather, said strong winds due to western disturbance has helped dispersed pollutants in Delhi-NCR and other parts of north India. "The air quality is expected to remain in 'moderate' to 'poor' category in the next two days," he said.

 

The national capital recorded a maximum temperature of 29 degree Celsius and minimum temperature of 16.2 degrees Celsius on Sunday. The humidity oscillated between 85 per cent and 45 per cent, respectively.

 

The weatherman has forecast strong surface winds during daytime on Monday with the maximum temperature touching 27 degrees Celsius and minimum of 15 degrees Celsius. Delhi was blanketed with a thick smog for four consecutive days till Friday as unfavourable weather hampered dispersion of pollutants.