Delhi: Temperature dips to 6 degrees Celsius, lowest this season

The IMD forecast said that the minimum temperature on Saturday is likely to be 6 degrees Celsius, and the maximum could be 20 degrees Celsius. Shallow fog is on the forecast for the day. Relative humidity at 8.30 am was 94 per cent, and the temperature at the same time was 7.4 degrees Celsius.

While the minimum temperature is predicted to be 5 degrees Celsius for the next two days, the maximum temperature is likely to settle at 20 degrees Celsius.

The air quality is likely to improve on Saturday, but will remain in the ‘poor’ category, according to the Air Quality Early Warning System forecast for Delhi. The air quality was in the ‘very poor’ category on Friday, with an AQI of 329. Over the next two days as well, the AQI is likely to remain in the ‘poor’ category, the forecast indicates. AQI between 201 and 300 is considered ‘poor.’

At a few air quality monitoring stations where the 24-hour average AQI had been in the ‘very poor’ category on Friday morning, the air quality had improved to reach the ‘poor’ category on Saturday. As a 24-hour average, the AQI at 9 am at Mandir Marg was 271, while it was 258 at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, 288 at Sri Aurobindo Marg and 286 at Lodhi Road. At ITO, the AQI stood in the ‘very poor’ category with a figure of 321.

Stronger winds were predicted to have brought an improvement in air quality. For instance, on Friday, at Mandir Marg, the wind speed had picked up from 1.5 m/s at 10 am to 2.7 m/s at noon, and was around 2.4 m/s at 2 pm. At the same time, PM2.5 levels fell from 153 µg/m3 at 10 am to 72 µg/m3 at noon and 2 pm. By 9 am on Saturday, however, wind speed had fallen to 0.7 m/s and PM2.5 concentration had increased to 172 µg/m3.