Air quality improves in NCR, so does visibility

With moderate dry winds blowing on Saturday, the National Capital Region and surrounding areas recorded better visibility, slight rise in minimum temperature and marked improvement in air quality which, however, remained "very poor".

The weatherman warned of a spike in the cold weather towards Tuesday due to onset of rains.

"Due to rains, temperatures are likely to fall on Wednesday whereas humidity may rise. This is likely to lead to drop in visibility," Mahesh Palwat, Director of private weather forecasting agency Skymet, told IANS.

On Saturday, the minimum temperature was recorded at 8 degrees Celsius, a notch above the season's average, as against 7.4 degrees on Friday. However, the maximum saw a drop to 22.9 degrees on Saturday as against 24.9 on Friday.

"The maximum and minimum temperatures on Sunday are likely to hover around 23 and 7 degrees respectively. There will be moderate fog in the morning," an official at the India Meteorological Department told IANS.

Meanwhile, the air quality in the national capital improved to "very poor" from "severe" on Friday.

The Air Quality Index (AQI) of Delhi on Saturday was 323 as against 403 on Friday, on a scale of 0 to 500.

The AQI of Ghaziabad was 379 on Saturday whereas it was 468 on Friday. In Noida, the figures were 319 on Saturday and 409 on Friday.

The wind speed on Saturday was 15 to 20 km per hour, which helped disperse air pollutants.

--IANS

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