Rain brings down toxicity of air; smog remains a worry

In the last 24 hours, from 8:30 am as on Monday, Delhi's Safdarjung observatory recorded 7.8 mm of rains while the Palam observatory witnessed 6.8 mm of rains.

Moreover, the minimums as recorded by both the observatories dropped by 5 degrees and settled in lower teens. Officials observed that Delhiites relished season's first wet spell last evening that brought the temperatures a few notches down and washed off the pollution which was prevalent in the region for a long time. With this, finally, Delhiites gasped some fresh air.-

"In fact, these rains were the first December rains since 2014 as the national capital failed to observe any rains in the month of December in the year 2015 and 2016," said an official.

As per SAFAR (System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research), the air quality of Delhi showed marginal improvement and from the 'severe' to 'very poor' category, Delhi's AQI lingers between 'poor and 'moderate'. As per the latest report, the city recorded PM10 at 188 while PM2.5 at 113.

According to the experts, these rains were due to the effect of a Western Disturbance over the Western Himalayan Region.

But now as the weather system has started travelling eastwards, rains have seized. Which is why, Tuesday morning in Delhi and NCR began on a sunny note.

"Due to the absence of any significant rains, the temperatures are likely to once again start witnessing a rising trend. Though the cloudy weather is likely to prevail over the city for the next 24 hours, chances of another spell are very bleak," officials noted.

The light easterly winds will also start prevailing over the region thereby incurring moisture over the region. With all these factors, the pollution levels are once again expected to spike up.