Delhi weather: Rain improves air quality to ‘moderate’ but also brings in the chills

Delhi weather: The air quality index (AQI) in the national capital has improved to ‘moderate’ category, all thanks to the record December rain witnessed by Delhi. This also brought in the chilly weather and the wind.

According to SAFAR-India, the AQI on Monday was recorded at 179, a far cry from the over-400 AQI it had witnessed just days ago. However, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) predicted a clear sky along with strong winds. It said that the wind speed will gradually increase during the afternoon of December 30. Smog and dense fog was also predicted for the day.

The last day of the year is also expected to witness mainly clear skies, the IMD stated, along with smog and dense fog in the morning, and a windy afternoon.

As for the air quality, according to SAFAR-India, Alipur station recorded an AQI of 153, while Anand Vihar recorded 244, Ashok Vihar 193, Burari Crossing 130, Mathura Road 165, Dwarka Sector 8 222, IGI Airport 130, ITO 196, Jahangirpuri 233, Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium 168, Lodhi Road 139, Mandir Marg 202, Najafgarh 126, North Campus DU 134, RK Puram 243, Shadipur 133, Siri Fort 289, and Wazirpur 189 among others.

The air quality between 0-50 is considered ‘good’, 51-100 ‘satisfactory’, 101-200 ‘moderate’, 201-300 ‘poor’, 301-400 ‘very poor’, and 401-500 ‘severe’ and ‘severe plus’.

COLD WAVE ALERT

The IMD anticipates a fall in temperature by 4-6 degree Celsius over Uttar Pradesh in the next five days, and by 3-4 degree Celsius over Punjab, Haryana-Chandigarh-Delhi and Rajasthan in the next three days.

The weather department stated that cold wave conditions are very likely in isolated pockets of Punjab and Haryana-Chandigarh during December 31-January 2 period, and over Rajasthan during December 30-January 2 period. Cold day conditions are very likely in isolated pockets of Punjab and Haryana-Chandigarh on December 30.