Rains bring respite from Delhi pollution

Rains over the last few days have washed away big pollutants in the national capital, contributing to a slight improvement in its Air Quality Index, which reached "moderate" levels on Saturday.

"The overall air quality over Delhi is moderate, purely attributed to rainfall. With overall Air Quality Index on Saturday recorded at 211 in the capital," the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR) said.

The respite will not likely to stay for a long time as air quality is expected to deteriorate slowly due to stable weather conditions where low wind speeds with cooler temperature play a dominant role.

"The AQI is likely to deteriorate to poor for the next two days and may cross very poor by Monday possibility of moderate fog to continue," stated SAFAR.

On Saturday, the level of major pollutants in the air has improved significantly with particulate matter 10 (PM 10) plummeted to 118 from 154, while Particulate matter 2.5 (PM 2.5) recorded at 58 as compared to 93 recorded yesterday.

In the coming few days, the pollutants level in the Delhi's air is likely to escalate but will remain in "moderate" to "satisfactory" level.

Temperatures in the various part of North India is also likely to drop in the coming days.

"The cold to severe cold wave conditions at isolated pockets are also likely to re-appear over parts of northwest India during end of January.