Delhi's air quality improves to 'moderate' as cold winds bring back chill

Minimum temperature also saw a sharp drop of over 3 degrees Celsius due to the northwesterly winds that reached upto 30 kmph in the afternoon

Delhi's air quality improved significantly, and was in the 'moderate' category on Friday morning. The Air Quality Index (AQI) was at 173 at 8 am on February 7, according to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). The improved air quality could be a result of better weather conditons, but also due to some technical glitches in the weather monitoring system in the capital. 

Cold winds and clear skies favour AQI

Cold conditions returned to the national capital with the chilly winds coming from the snow covered mountains in the north. The skies are expected to remain clearer with shallow fog in the morning and at night. The minimum temperature also saw a sharp drop of over 3 degrees Celsius due to these northwesterly winds that reached upto 30 kmph in the afternoon.  According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD) forecast, the minimum and maximum temperatures are expected to be 9.05 degrees Celsius and 23.18 degrees Celsius, respectively 

Technical glitches in the weather monitoring system 

The improved air quality comes amidst a malfunction in the weather monitoring system as real-time data from 34 of 39 air quality monitoring systems went 'missing' in the national capital. This is the third time that such an incident has occurred since January. Earlier, on Jan 1 and 11, air quality data was also unavailable due to the technical issues. 

The air quaity is expected to drop again in Delhi in the coming week when the weather conditions become a little warmer. Grap stage-3 restrictions were revoked in the capital on February 3 on the back of improved AQI.