Yellow alert for dense fog

New Delhi: Delhi recorded a maximum temperature of 22.5 degrees Celsius on Tuesday as dense fog enveloped the city for most of the day, with the IMD issuing a yellow alert for similar conditions on Wednesday.

The air quality remained in the poor category.

The maximum temperature at the city’s base station was 0.2 notches above normal, while the minimum settled at 9.4 degrees Celsius, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.

Station-wise data showed that Palam recorded a maximum temperature of 19.5 degrees Celsius, below normal, with the minimum at 8.6 degrees Celsius. Lodi Road registered a maximum of 21.8 degrees Celsius and a minimum of 9.6 degrees Celsius, while the Ridge station logged a maximum of 21.7 degrees Celsius and a minimum of 11.0 degrees Celsius. At Ayanagar, the maximum temperature stood at 21.8 degrees Celsius, while the minimum dropped to 10.3 degrees. No rainfall was recorded at any station during the past 24 hours, officials said. During the morning hours, visibility dropped sharply to 100 metres at both Palam and Safdarjung, the weather office said.

For Wednesday, the IMD has forecast a minimum temperature of 9 degrees Celsius and a maximum of 22 degrees Celsius, with dense fog conditions likely under a yellow alert.

On the air quality front, Delhi’s 24-hour average Air Quality Index (AQI) stood at 272 on Tuesday, placing it in the ‘poor’ category, according to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).

Station-wise data showed uneven air quality across the capital, with 16 monitoring stations reporting ‘poor’ air quality, another 16 in the ‘very poor’ category and seven stations recording ‘moderate’ levels during the evening hours, according to data from the Sameer app.

According to the CPCB, an AQI between zero and 50 is considered ‘good’, 51 and 100 ‘satisfactory’, 101 and 200 ‘moderate’, 201 and 300 ‘poor’, 301 and 400 ‘very poor’ and 401 and 500 ‘severe’.

Data from the Decision Support System (DSS) showed that Delhi’s transport sector contributed up to 13.1 per cent to the city’s pollution load, followed by Delhi and peripheral industries at 11.3 per cent. Waste burning accounted for 1.3 per cent, construction activities 2.3 per cent, road dust 1.1 per cent and residential sources 3.3 per cent.

Among the National Capital Region districts, Sonipat emerged as the highest contributor at about 15.1 per cent, followed by Jhajjar

at around 7.6 per cent, Panipat at about 5.9 per cent and Bahadurgarh at 4.4 per cent, the DSS data showed.