Stronger winds offered Delhi a small but welcome relief for the second day in a row, improving the city’s AQI to 259 — in the ‘poor’ category, marking an improvement compared to the pollution spike experienced last week.
During the day, predominant surface winds blew from the northwest at speeds of up to 15 kmph in the afternoon, and are expected to slow to below 10 kmph from the same direction in the evening and night on Wednesday, according to the Air Quality Early Warning System for Delhi. At 4 pm on Wednesday, the 24-hour average AQI stood at 259, compared to 282 on Tuesday, 314 on Monday, and 308 on Sunday, according to data from the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).
After nine days of experiencing “very poor” air quality, Delhi saw a marginal improvement on Tuesday, with the average AQI dropping below 300 and into the “poor” category. Meanwhile, the CPCB’s Sameer app had not updated station-wise pollution levels until 6 pm.
According to the Decision Support System for Delhi’s air-quality management, vehicular emissions contributed 16.9 per cent to local pollution on Wednesday. For Thursday too, the system forecast vehicular emissions to remain the prime source of pollutants, contributing around 16.6 per cent.
Meanwhile, the maximum temperature on Tuesday settled at 25.2 degrees Celsius, about 0.4 degrees below normal, while the minimum temperature was 10 degrees Celsius, around 0.4 degrees below normal, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD). Relative humidity stood at 79 per cent in the morning and 59 per cent in the evening.
For Thursday, the IMD has predicted partly foggy conditions, with the minimum temperature likely to be around 8 degrees Celsius and the maximum around 24 degrees Celsius.
Delhi saw a marginal improvement on Tuesday, with the average AQI dropping below 300 and into the poor category
