The capital remained cloudy on Sunday and the air quality remained in the “severe” category for the sixth consecutive day, while the minimum temperature rose by a few notches. Light rain occurred in some parts of the city in the evening.
The 24-hour average air quality index (AQI) based on data from 35 monitoring stations was 459 with PM 2.5 as the main pollutant. Other parts of NCR such as Noida, Greater Noida, Ghaziabad and Faridabad were also in the “severe” level, while Gurgaon was in the “very poor” category.
A forecast from the Centre-run System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research showed that the air quality is likely to be “severe” on December 27 as winds are likely to reduce ventilation of pollutants.
‘Slight improvement’
The forecast said, “After December 28, a slight improvement in air quality is likely due to relatively higher wind speed and a significant improvement is expected on December 29 due to higher easterly winds resulting in stronger ventilation of pollutants.” happens,” the forecast said.
The city’s minimum temperature also rose to 9.8 degrees Celsius, two notches above normal for this time of year, and the maximum temperature was recorded at 21.4 degrees Celsius, a notch warmer than the season’s normal. The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) said that cloud cover and change in wind direction could be attributed to the rise in temperature.
The winds blowing from the east/southeast direction towards Delhi are warmer than those coming from the north. The IMD has predicted light rain in the capital as well as dense fog in some areas. The city’s forecast for December 27 said, “The sky will be generally cloudy with very light rain/ drizzle. Light to moderate fog during the morning hours. The maximum and minimum temperatures are around 22 and 10 degree Celsius respectively. Likely to be around.
western disturbance
The IMD attributed the change in weather to the influence of a Western Disturbance observed as a cyclonic circulation over East Afghanistan and adjoining Pakistan and an Induced Cyclonic Circulation located at lower tropospheric levels over Southwest Rajasthan and neighbourhood.
“Under the influence of the above systems, light/moderate to fairly widespread rain/snowfall is very likely to occur over Western Himalayan region till December 28 and light rain is very likely to occur at isolated places between Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi and Rajasthan. 26 and 28 December.”
It said that there would be no significant change in minimum temperatures over most parts of northwest India in the next three days and a drop of 2-4 degrees Celsius is expected thereafter.
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