As a thick blanket of fog engulfed the National Capital, the overall air quality index(AQI) in Delhi continued to remain in a ‘very poor’ category on Wednesday, however it showed a slight dip from Tuesday. The AQI was recorded at 352 on Wednesday morning, said System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR). The decline in AQI is typical of a slight reduction in the wind speed.
Other weather conditions remained more or less the same, the wind direction is shifting from westerly to southerly leading to slightly less moisture in the air. This may improve the air quality slowly so that the AQI would touch ‘poor’ category soon, SAFAR said.
An AQI between 0-50 is good, 51-100 is marked as satisfactory, 101-200 is categorized as moderate, 201-300 is poor, 301-400 is very poor and 401-500 is severe.
In Delhi University, Pitampura and Noida the Air Quality Index was recorded ‘severe’; Lodhi Road, Chandini Chowk, Indira Gandhi International(IGI) Airport and Mathura Road the AQI was recorded ‘very poor’; Gurugram in the ‘poor’ category.
The overall PM2.5 (particulate matter 2.5 micrometer or less in diameter) level in Delhi was recorded at 188 in the ‘very poor’ category, while on Wednesday morning, PM10 (particulate matter 10 micrometer or less in diameter) level was recorded at 332 in the ‘poor’ category.
SAFAR advised all citizens to stop all activities in the early morning and after sunset hours.
Minimum temperature is likely to be around 12 degree Celsius, while maximum temperature would be around 23 degree Celsius, said Indian Meteorological Department(IMD).