Capital gets brief respite before rain
New Delhi: A slight respite from the chill in Delhi on Friday, as the maximum temperature rose to 22.6 degrees Celsius, half a notch above the seasonal average, though the relief is expected to be short-lived as the India Meteorological Department has predicted rain and thunderstorms over the next three days.
The city’s base weather station, Safdarjung, recorded a minimum temperature of 7.7 degrees Celsius, 0.7 degrees below normal. The maximum temperature logged was 4.7 degrees Celsius higher than the previous day.
Ridge registered a high of 23 degrees Celsius, followed by 22.1 degrees Celsius at Lodhi Road, 21.6 degrees Celsius at Ayanagar and 18.5 degrees Celsius at Palam.
The minimum temperatures stood at 6.7 degrees Celsius at Palam, followed by 7.6 degrees Celsius each at Lodhi Road and Ayanagar and 9.5 degrees Celsius at the Ridge.
On Saturday, partly cloudy skies are likely to turn generally cloudy by afternoon or evening, with moderate fog at many places and dense fog at isolated locations during morning hours, the meteorological department said. There is a possibility of very light rain accompanied by thunderstorms, lightning and gusty winds reaching speeds of 30 to 40 kilometres per hour towards night, it added.
The maximum temperature is likely to hover around 20 to 22 degrees Celsius, while the minimum temperature is predicted between 6 and 8 degrees Celsius, the Met said.
Delhi’s 24-hour average air quality index (AQI) stood in the ‘poor’ category on Friday, with a reading of 253. In the evening hours, air quality deteriorated further, with around 22 monitoring stations recording ‘poor’ air quality, eleven in the ‘moderate’ category and four in the ‘very poor’ range. Wazirpur logged the worst AQI at 318.
According to the Central Pollution Control Board, an AQI between zero and 50 is considered ‘good’, 51 to 100 ‘satisfactory’, 101 to 200 ‘moderate’, 201 to 300 ‘poor’, 301 to 400 ‘very poor’ and 401 to 500 ‘severe’.
Data from the Decision Support System showed that Delhi’s transport sector contributed up to 15.7 per cent to the city’s pollution load, followed by 12.5 per cent from Delhi and peripheral industries. Waste burning accounted for 1.4 per cent, construction activities two per cent and the residential sector 3.9 per cent, it added. Among NCR districts, Sonipat contributed 13.4 per cent, Jhajjar 13.1 per cent, Rohtak 2.4 per cent, Panipat 2.1 per cent and Gurgaon 1.2 per cent to the pollution load, the data showed.
Despite the forecast rain, air quality is expected to worsen in the coming days, with the Air Quality Warning System predicting ‘very poor’ air from January 31 to February 2.
