A dense blanket of smog had engulfed the city ever since the national capital celebrated Diwali on Sunday. It is the worst smog Delhi has encountered in last 17 years.
Pollution levels on Wednesday were 62.7% higher than on Sunday. In wake of this, several schools have been shut till further notice. Children and elder people are advised from indulging into outdoor activities.
According to the international norms, an alert is issued when the Air Quality Index is more than 300 for two consecutive days. AQI over Delhi has been above 300 micrograms in cubic meter for the last four consecutive days. It had even surpassed 1,500 at some locations on Wednesday night.
As per Skymet Weather, smog was not as dense on Friday as it was during the last two days. This relief is due to the marginal increase in the wind speed and change in wind pattern from north-westerlies or south-westerlies. The areas falling on the western side of Delhi are almost clear of any smog or smoke particles.
However, factors contributing for the formation of thick smog over the are still prevailing. Crop burning is going on unabated in the neighbouring states of Punjab and Haryana.
With this, threat of smog returning to the state is still looming large. If the light winds start flowing from the northwest direction once again, intensity of smog may increase again. However, it is unlikely at least for the next 24 to 48 hours.
Thereafter, winds may change the pattern to northwesterlies again but this time, speed of winds will also increase. This will help in decreasing smog from Delhi-NCR and weather conditions will improve drastically by November 7, predict weathermen at Skymet Weather.
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Any information taken from here should be attributed to skymetweather.com