Delhi-NCR gasps as air quality plunges to season's worst level of 391

The air quality in Delhi touched the season's worst level on Sunday morning with the AQI climbing to 391 before dipping slightly.

A blanket of smog shrouded the national capital as temperature dropped to 11.7 degrees Celsius, significantly below the normal range.

At 4 pm the Air Quality Index (AQI) stood at 370 on Sunday, placing the city in the red zone, data from the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) showed.

In the morning, around 8 am, the AQI was recorded at 391 the season's highest so far slightly declining two hours later, it added.

Most monitoring stations in Delhi logged pollution levels in the severe category, with Punjabi Bagh recording the highest at 425, followed by Bawana at 410, Jahangipuri at 401 and Nehru Nagar and Wazirpur at 400, according to data from the CPCB's Sameer app.

The app compiles readings from 38 monitoring stations across the national capital.

In the NCR region, Noida recorded the highest AQI of 354, followed by Ghaziabad at 345 and Greater Noida at 340 all falling in the very poor category, the data further showed.

An AQI between 0 and 50 is considered "good", 51 to 100 "satisfactory", 101 to 200 "moderate", 201 to 300 "poor", 301 to 400 "very poor" and 401 to 500 "severe", according to CPCB.

On Sunday PM2.5 remained the key pollutant in the city.

According to the Decision Support System (DSS) for air quality forecasting, stubble burning contributed around five per cent to Delhi's pollution, while the transport sector emerged as the highest contributor at 20 per cent on Sunday.

Satellite data showed 238 stubble-burning incidents in Punjab, 42 in Haryana, and 158 in Uttar Pradesh on Saturday.

The Air Quality Early Warning System for the city has predicted that Delhi's air quality will remain in the very poor category over the next few days.

Since Diwali, the national capital's air quality has consistently remained in the poor or very poor category, occasionally slipping into the severe zone.

Delhi registered a minimum temperature of 11.7 degree Celsius while the maximum settled at 28.1 degree Celsius, 1.4 notches below normal.

On Saturday, the city recorded its lowest minimum temperature of the season so far at 11 degree Celsius.

The weather department has predicted shallow fog for Monday morning, with the maximum temperature likely to settle around 28 and the minimum temperature predicted to be around 12 degree Celsius.