Temperature dips to 17 degrees Celsius, air quality remains poor in Delhi

Delhi on Wednesday recorded a minimum temperature of 17 degrees Celsius, a notch below the normal for this time of the year, the India Meteorological Department said.

The maximum temperature is likely to settle around 33 degrees Celsius.

Delhi's air quality continued to be in the poor category for the fourth consecutive day and any improvement is unlikely over the next few days.

The air quality index (AQI) stood at 241 at 9 am.

At least seven out of the 35 monitoring stations in the city recorded the air quality in the "very poor" category.

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.

According to the Decision Support System of the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), the transport sector accounted for 18.5 per cent of PM2.5 pollution in Delhi on Tuesday.

The Early Warning System of the IITM said the air quality was likely to remain in the poor and very poor categories over the next six days.