Residents of New Delhi woke up to ‘very poor’ air quality on Tuesday morning, with the overall air quality index (AQI) crossing the threshold of 300 and 20 stations reporting “red”, according to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).
New Delhi’s overall AQI stood at 305 at 8am – a spike from Monday’s 4pm reading of 281, which was “poor”.
The air quality is predicted to remain in this range for the next 24 hours, even though the wind direction changed to southeasterly, reducing the impact of stubble burning in the Capital.
The CPCB classifies an AQI of 51-100 as “satisfactory”, 101-200 as “moderate”, 201-300 as “poor”, 301-400 as “very poor” and above 401 as “severe”.
In October, New Delhi didn’t see a single day of “very poor” air quality, with the worst AQI of 298, labelled “poor”, recorded on October 17.
Out of the 20 stations that reported the “very poor” category on Tuesday morning, Shadipur recorded the worst AQI, at 353, followed by Narela and Bawana, at 348 each.
According to the early warning system (EWS) for New Delhi, which forecasts air quality in the region, the AQI is expected to hover between “poor” and the lower end of “very poor” until Wednesday.
Also, the air quality is expected to deteriorate around November 5 and 6, and may reach the upper end of the “very poor” category, with PM 2.5 expected to be the pre-dominant pollutant, according to the EWS.
Tuesday turned out to be yet another chilly morning, with the mercury settling at 14.5 degrees Celsius – one degree below normal for this time of the season.
The capital recorded its coldest morning of the season so far on Monday, when the minimum temperature dropped to 13.6 degrees Celsius.
Met officials say a change in the wind direction to southeasterly has led to a slight rise in temperatures, with colder northwesterly winds expected by November 5.