Visibility may improve in Delhi on Saturday

The National Capital on Friday experienced dense fog with severe air-quality. The Met office expects the visibility to increase by Saturday with dry north-westerly winds blowing in.

On Friday, the visibility dropped to 200 metres towards 5.30 a.m., leading to cancellation of 15 train services and rescheduling of seven Delhi-bound trains, a railway official said.

The dense fog was expected to get shallower on Saturday, a met official said.

"A strong induced cyclonic circulation over north-west plains of Haryana and northern Rajasthan will help in increasing the wind speed and change its direction.

"Due to this, visibility will increase towards Saturday," Mahesh Palwat, director private weather forecasting agency Skymet told IANS.

According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the minimum temperature on Saturday was also expected to go up from Friday's 7.4 degrees Celsius to 8 degrees Celsius.

On Friday, the humidity at 8.30 a.m. was 100 per cent, causing the sudden spike in the pollution levels. The forecasting agencies expect the pollution levels to rise towards Saturday.

However, due to the possibility of rain in the National Capital Region towards January 23, the pollution levels may drop. The IMD said the air-quality and visibility will improve from next Tuesday.

The air quality of Delhi and overall NCR was placed under severe category.

According to System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR), the Air Quality Index of Delhi at 9 a.m. was 379, which by 1 p.m. rose to 395 on a scale of 0 to 500.

According to the Central Pollution Control Board's data, the AQI was severe or over 400 at several regions around noon, including Dwarka (420), Mandir Marg(420), Anand Vihar (497), R.K. Puram (408), Delhi Technical University (477), Siri Fort (406), Mathura Road (412), Delhi University North Campus (466), Sector 16A-Faridabad (422), Sector 125-Noida (491) and Vasundhara in Ghaziabad (493).

A spike in the major pollutant concentration PM2.5 or particles with diameter less than 2.5 micrometres was also noticed across NCR. The 273 microgrammes per cubic metres in Delhi at 9 a.m. rose to 282 units by 12 p.m.

The PM2.5 was 272 across NCR -- about 10 times the international safe limits.

Anand Vihar in east Delhi was among the most polluted with PM2.5 reaching 511 units or "beyond severe" towards noon.

Thursday's maximum temperature was 27.7 degrees Celsius, highest in January so far, while the minimum temperature was recorded at seven degrees Celsius.

--IANS

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