New delhi: The national Capital recorded a minimum of 7.5 degrees Celsius on Friday, the lowest in the month of November in 14 years, according to the India Meteorological Department.
It is Delhi's lowest minimum temperature in November since November 29, 2006, when the city recorded a minimum of 7.3 degrees Celsius, said Kuldeep Srivastava, the head of the IMD's regional forecasting centre.
The city was also on the brink of a cold wave, the first this season. For the plains, the IMD declares a cold wave when the minimum temperature is 10 degrees Celsius or below and is 4.5 notches less than normal for two consecutive days.
The criteria has been met on Friday. We will declare a cold wave in Delhi if the situation persists on Saturday, Srivastava said.
Delhi had recorded the lowest minimum temperature of 11.5 degrees Celsius last year, 10.5 degrees Celsius in 2018 and 7.6 degrees Celsius in 2017 in the month of November.
The all-time record for the lowest minimum temperature in November is 3.9 degrees Celsius recorded on November 28, 1938.
Meanwhile, Delhi's air quality was recorded in the "poor" category on Friday while central government agencies said it is likely to improve marginally due to favourable wind speeds.
The city's 24-hour average air quality index (AQI) was 296. It was 283 on Thursday, 211 on Wednesday and 171 on Tuesday.
The central government's Air Quality Early Warning System for Delhi said Delhi-NCR air quality is likely to remain in the "poor" to "moderate" category on Saturday.
Around 600 farm fire counts were observed over Punjab, Haryana and adjoining Pakistan on Thursday, it said.
According to the Ministry of Earth Sciences' air quality monitor, SAFAR, stubble burning accounted for 15 per cent of Delhi's PM2.5 pollution on Friday. It was 20 per cent on Thursday, eight per cent on Wednesday and three per cent on Tuesday.
SAFAR said "energetic" surface winds are likely to influence AQI positively in the next two days.