New Delhi (NVI): The air quality in Delhi improved to the ‘moderate’ category today, due to high surface winds which helped in reducing the atmospheric pollutants.
According to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), the overall air quality index (AQI) in Delhi was 160 at around 10 am, which falls in ‘moderate’ category.
Several areas of the city also reported AQIs in the ‘moderate’ category including the area of Anand Vihar (179), RK Puram (148), Patparganj (143) and ITO (141), as per the CPCB data.
Moreover, the Ministry of Earth Sciences’ air quality monitoring agency, SAFAR said that the concentrations of PM 2.5 and PM 10 stood at 185 and 62 in the ‘moderate’ category respectively.
An AQI within the range of 0-5 is regarded as ‘good’, 51-100 is ‘satisfactory’, 101-200 is ‘moderate’, 201-300 is ‘poor’ and 301-400 is ‘very poor’ and 401-500 is considered ‘severe’.
The System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR) in its bulletin stated, the overall Delhi air quality is in the ‘moderate’ category as forecasted. Surface winds are high and west-southwesterly. Better ventilation is likely to influence AQI positively.
“However, AQI is likely to stay in the ‘moderate’ category for the next two days. ‘Moderate’ to ‘Poor’ AQI is forecasted for 28th March,” it added.
Yesterday, SAFAR in its bulletin said that the typical dust episodes are likely to influence Delhi negatively in the coming days. The dust contribution is likely to moderately increase in next 2-3 days.
Meanwhile, the IMD’s regional centre recorded the maximum temperature in Delhi around 33 degrees Celsius today and minimum temperature settled at 17 degrees Celsius. It has also predicted strong surface winds during the day time in the national capital.
-RJV
