With this, pollution levels have also taken a drop, though they still hover around severe levels. Air Quality Index (AQI) over the national capital is still above 500, which is ‘hazardous’ zone.
All thanks to the winds from westerly direction that have finally picked up pace. Winds are now blowing at the speed of 15-20 kmph.
Weathermen predict further improvement during the next 24 hours as these winds will continue to blow in the similar fashion. Sky will also clear up and we can expect bright sunshine during the afternoon hours. AQI may come down further to ‘very poor level’ on Wednesday.
Present scenario
At present, the value of PM 2.5 concentration is still settling over 400 across most parts of the city. As per the rating by the National Air Quality Index, any score between 201 and 300 is considered poor, between 301 and 400 is very poor and 401 and 500 is severe.
Let us have a look the value of PM 2.5 concentrations as on 8 am on November 8.
Forecast for coming days
With clear sky conditions, air quality is likely to improve in coming days. However, a fresh Western Disturbance is expected to affect Western Himalayas around November 12. During that time, direction of winds will once again change and speed may also decrease. However, this will be a temporary slow down, unlike this time when winds remained light calm for almost 9 days.
We expect visibility to reduce again during that period but conditions will not be as severe as it has been in the last week.
Though mist, haze and shallow fog will affect the visibility but contents of pollution will be much less as ongoing crop burning will reduce. Moreover, temperatures will also fall by 2-3 degrees leading to condensation of air near the ground.
Image credit: indianexpress
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