NEW DELHI: Strong winds swept the air clean on Wednesday as Delhiites basked in crisp sunshine and azure skies, and an AQI that had dramatically improved to ‘moderate’ – the lowest in 50 days. This was also the city’s best air day in Dec since 2022.
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Moderate air days are increasingly rare in Dec. This was just the fifth such day during the month since 2020. Three of those had come in a single streak in mid-Dec 2022 and another in the aftermath of rain on Dec 14, 2020.
Delhi’s average AQI on Wednesday was 178, a sharp improvement from the previous day’s count of 268. The city had last recorded a cleaner day on Oct 12, when the AQI was 155. The improvement is credited to strong unidirectional winds gusting up to 20kmph.
Rain next week may lead to drop in temperatures
On Wednesday, the AQI was 194 at 11am, which by 3pm had improved to 179 and to 178 by 4pm, before dipping slightly to 181 by 5 pm.
Pollution monitoring agencies expect the AQI to remain in the moderate to poor range for another day before deteriorating to poor again.
According to weather analysts, the city is seeing consistently strong winds, which may continue for a few more days.
“The city saw wind speeds of 15-20 kmph on Wednesday. This may remain so for another few days. The wind direction was northwesterly. Consistently stronger winds coming from the same direction led to an improvement in the air quality,” said Mahesh Palawat, vice chairman, meteorology and climate change, Skymet.
Weather analysts also expect rain early next week under the impact of a western disturbance, which may lead to a drop in temperatures in the region. “A western disturbance might show its impact soon, around December 10. Under its influence, there are chances of fresh snowfall from December 8-10 and rain in Punjab, Haryana, and western Uttar Pradesh. There are chances that the rain might also occur in Delhi. Post these rains, the temperature may fall,” said Palawat.
On Wednesday, the city recorded a maximum temperature of 28 degrees Celsius, three notches above normal, against 28.2 degrees C a day ear- lier. The minimum temperature was recorded at 12 degrees C, a notch above normal, against 10.5 degrees C a day earlier. The maximum and minimum on Thursday are likely to hover around 26 and 10 degrees Celsius.
According to the advance air quality forecast, moderate air quality may continue for another day; however, it may may slip back to poor after December 6. On Wednesday, the PM2.5 levels hovered between 65.8 to 95.1 micrograms per cubic metre, against 24-hourly standards of 60 micrograms per cubic metre. The PM10 levels hovered between 148.1 to 187.7 micrograms per cubic metre, against the national standard of 100 units and 45 units as per WHO standards.
