Delhi air no longer ‘severe’, AQI improves to lower end of ‘very poor’

There were 10 stations in the ‘severe’ category at 6 am, but by noon, the AQI improved.

Anand Vihar, which was the most polluted with a 416 AQI as of 6 am, saw an improvement with an AQI of 383 at 1 pm. Lodhi Road reported the lowest pollution levels among the 39 air quality monitoring stations. At 6 am, the AQI was in the ‘very poor’ category (302) — the AQI was 272 in the ‘poor’ at noon.

Meanwhile, closure of physical classes for students up to Class 12 in Gurgaon and Faridabad was extended till November 25. “…physical classes for students up to Class 12… will remain discontinued till November 25. Online classes will continue as per schedule,” the Gurgaon district magistrate posted on X.

How other factors fared

Particulate Matter: Levels of PM 2.5 and 10 saw a steep fall throughout the day. At 4 pm on Saturday, the average PM 10 pollution was 337.1 µg/m3. This fell to 258.4 µg/m3 on Sunday evening. Similarly, the average PM 2.5 levels dropped from 201.4 µg/m3 to 137.3 µg/m3 in the same time frame.

Fog: According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), smog or shallow fog conditions prevailed on Sunday morning. Visibility at Safdarjung airport improved from 800 m at 5.30 am to 2,000 m at 1 pm, said the IMD.

Wind speed: The air quality improved as winds picked up in the morning. The average wind speed remained around 3 kmph but this increased to 6 to 10 kmph by noon, showed data from the Delhi Pollution Control Committee.

Favourable wind speed of more than 10 kmph was reported at a few stations. In Alipur, for instance, the wind speed reached above 10 kmph as of 10 am. On Saturday, the wind speed was mainly 4 to 8 kmph during the day and calm at night, as per the IMD weather bulletin.

Pollution contributors: The Centre’s Decision Support System showed the contribution of stubble burning as of Saturday at 19.58%. The transport sector was the major contributor to PM 2.5 levels at the domestic level at 15.73%.

Forecast for the days ahead

According to the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology’s forecast, the air quality is forecast to be in the ‘very poor’ category till Wednesday (November 27). In its outlook for the subsequent six days, it has forecast air quality to fluctuate between ‘very poor’ and ‘severe’ conditions.

The Met Office has forecast moderate fog conditions from Monday to Wednesday (November 25 to 27) after which, dense fog is forecast on Thursday (November 28).

Mercury levels will also see a gradual dip in the coming days, with the minimum touching 10 degrees Celsius and the maximum 25 degrees Celsius, said the IMD. The minimum temperature recorded on Sunday was a notch above normal at 12 degrees Celsius. The maximum temperature was above normal by two notches at 29.1 degrees Celsius.