After a gap of five days, Delhi is once again choking with 'hazardous' levels of air quality. Moreover, Delhi pollution is only increasing day by day for the last one month. In the morning hours today, the overall AQI over Delhi NCR was recorded at 312. PM 10 is in ‘moderate’ to ‘poor’ category over most places. However, PM 2.5 is in ‘poor’ to ‘very poor’ category over most parts. One or two places are even recording PM 2.5 in ‘severe’ category.
This is the first time Delhi is recording ‘severe’ pollution once again after November 15.
The reason for this rising pollution can be attributed to low winds, high humidity and low temperatures combined with the commencement of Western Disturbance over Western Himalayas. Winds will remain light for another 24 to 48 hours.
We expect a marginal improvement due to the increase in wind speed over Delhi and NCR between November 23 and 24. There will be a marginal improvement in air quality between this time. However, again it might go down in ‘very poor’ to ‘severe’ category and may become hazardous in the coming days as wind profile will continue to remain low as successive Western Disturbances will continue to approach Western Himalayas leading to decrease in wind speed. Winds will remain light and variable.
However, there is a silver lining to the cloud as rain is expected over Delhi and NCR around November 25. During that time, we expect the pollutants to get washed away if the rain intensity is moderate.
There is no major respite from ongoing pollution over Delhi and NCR until November 28 or 29 when we expect the affecting Western Disturbances to move away and winds will also pick up the pace.
Image Credits – India Today
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