Delhi's AQI slips to 'very poor'; visibility drops amid smoke and fog

With smoke and fog reducing visibility across the city, Delhi's air quality deteriorated further on Saturday, falling into the 'very poor' category with an overall AQI reading of 303 compared to 218 a day earlier.

The city's primary weather station at Safdarjung reported a visibility of 900 metres with calm winds, while Palam recorded a visibility of 1,300 metres with south-southwesterly winds at 4 kmph.

According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), shallow fog mixed with smoke prevailed over both stations. An IMD weather expert noted that the reduced visibility was due to the combined effect of smoke and fog.

 

Meanwhile, according to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), the city's average Air Quality Index stood at 303 at 4 pm, indicating a sharp decline in air quality.

Wazirpur reported the highest pollution level in the city with an AQI of 383, placing it in the 'very poor' category, according to data on the CPCB's Sameer app.

Out of 38 monitoring stations in the national capital, 26 recorded air quality in the 'very poor' category (above 300), while the remaining stations fell in the 'poor' category (below 300).

According to the CPCB classification, an AQI between zero and 50 is considered 'good', 51-100 'satisfactory', 101-200 'moderate', 201-300 'poor', 301-400 'very poor' and 401-500 'severe'.

The maximum temperature was recorded at 30.5 degrees Celsius, three notches below the seasonal average, while the minimum settled at 19.4 degrees Celsius, 3.3 notches above normal, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD).

The humidity level stood at 73 per cent at 5.30 pm.

Additionally, the IMD has forecast shallow fog for Sunday morning, with the maximum and minimum temperatures likely to hover around 31 and 18 degrees Celsius, respectively.