Delhi Weather: Dense Morning Fog Shrouds Capital, AQI Slips into Poor Category
National Desk: The national capital woke up to a thick blanket of fog on Monday morning, with average air quality recorded in the ‘moderate’ range. According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), visibility dropped to just 100 metres in the early hours at both Palam and Safdarjung.
Delhi’s overall Air Quality Index (AQI) stood at 188. Of the monitoring stations across the city, air quality at 21 centres was in the ‘moderate’ category, while 16 stations reported ‘poor’ air quality.
As per the Sameer app of the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), AQI data from three monitoring stations was not immediately available. The Lodhi Road station recorded the lowest AQI at 116 among all centres.
According to CPCB standards, an AQI between 0–50 is considered ‘good’, 51–100 ‘satisfactory’, 101–200 ‘moderate’, 201–300 ‘poor’, 301–400 ‘very poor’, and 401–500 ‘severe’.
The Air Quality Early Warning System (AQEWS) has forecast that Delhi’s air quality is likely to remain in the ‘poor’ category for the next two days and may continue to stay ‘poor’ over the coming six days as well.
On the weather front, the IMD reported a minimum temperature of 10.4 degrees Celsius at Safdarjung, slightly above normal, while Palam recorded a marginally higher-than-normal minimum of 10.7 degrees Celsius. Other parts of the city, including Ridge, saw minimum temperatures ranging between 11 and 11.4 degrees Celsius.
The maximum temperature in the national capital is expected to hover around 17 degrees Celsius, while the minimum is likely to remain close to 10 degrees Celsius.
