Mercury may head for high-40s in Noida, pollution may rise too

The capital received slight relief on Monday after reeling under heat wave last week. The maximum and minimum temperatures on Monday were 40.6 degrees Celsius, normal for this time of the year, and 29.4 degrees Celsius, two notches above normal, respectively.
Palam, which usually records the highest in the city, clocked 42.4 degrees Celsius, Ayanagar was at 41.2 while Jafarpur recorded 41.4 degrees Celsius. Humidity levels oscillated between 39% and 62%, an official from the metreological department said on Monday. “The next three days will see partly cloudy skies with possibility of very light rain or thunderstorm accompanied with lightning and gusty wind (speed 30-40 km per hour).” the MeT official added.
Sunday had also recorded a hot day, as the maximum temperature had reached 42.5 degrees Celsius, two notches above normal, while the minimum was 30.8 degrees Celsius, three points above normal.
In terms of air quality, Delhi had a poor day on Monday as the air quality index (AQI) clocked at 261. According to SAFAR, the overall air quality in Delhi is in the “poor” category, with PM10 as the lead pollutant and ozone only few notches away from the high end of moderate category.
“The maximum temperature is likely to rise over major parts of the northwest India during the next 48 hours. Ozone is predicted to remain in the high end of the moderate to poor range for the next 48 hours in the entire northwest urban belt. Significant increase in local dust emission is likely to cause PM10 as the lead pollutant for next two to three days,” a SAFAR report stated on Monday.
Meanwhile, the maximum temperature recorded in Noida was a higher than that in Delhi. The city recorded a maximum of 45 degrees Celsius on Monday and the heat is likely to get worse over the week as the mercury is expected to rise to 47 degrees Celsius and is likely to stay the same until June 9. The prediction was made by private weather-mapping agency Skymet weather.
The air is also expected to remain dry as there is no rainfall prediction for the next week. The wind speed too is between mild and very low and will range between 6kmph and 3kmph. A very low wind-movement combined with no humidity will lead to high air pollution as low windspeed will affect the dispersion of pollutants. The AQI in Noida touched 289 on Monday with PM 10 being the major pollutant. In Ghaziabad, AQI shot up to 326 while in Greater Noida it was 276.