Delhi's air quality remains 'very poor' despite rainfall, AQI at 342

The air quality in the national capital remained in the 'very poor' category despite overnight rainfall, with an overall Air Quality Index at 342 on Saturday morning

The air quality in the national capital remained in the 'very poor' category despite overnight rainfall, with an overall Air Quality Index (AQI) at 342 on Saturday morning, according to the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR).

The levels of PM 2.5 and PM 10 were recorded at 148 in the 'very poor' and 238 in the 'moderate' category respectively.

"AQI today indicates 'Very Poor". It is likely to rain on January 22 and 23 with gusty wind leading to wet deposition and strong dispersion resulting in significant improvement of AQI to 'Poor'. From the 24th onwards, air quality is likely to degrade gradually due to low wind speed and weak ventilation of pollutants," SAFAR said in its bulletin.

Further, the people in the national capital woke up to light showers of rain on Saturday. The minimum temperature also dropped to 10.0 degrees Celsius.

Earlier, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) had predicted light intensity rain over and adjoining areas of the entire Delhi and national capital region (NCR).

Meanwhile, the air quality in Noida also remained in 'very poor' category with AQI at 319 while in Gurugram, it was in poor' category with AQI at 262.

However, the air quality in Pune, Mumbai and Ahmedabad was in 'satisfactory' category.

As per the government agencies, an AQI between zero and 50 is considered 'good', 51 and 100 'satisfactory', 101 and 200 'moderate', 201 and 300 'poor', 301 and 400 'very poor', and 401 and 500 'severe'.