The air quality in the city deteriorated to the “very poor” category on Wednesday from the “poor” level a day earlier. It is likely to remain in the same category for the next two days, according to the authorities.
“Local surface winds are relatively low for the next three days, which reduce dispersion of pollutants, leading to deterioration of air quality. But air quality is likely to be within the ‘very poor’ category for the next two days,” said Government-run monitoring agency SAFAR (System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research) in a statement.
But on Saturday, local surface winds are likely to pick up speed, resulting in improvement of air quality within the “very poor” category. SAFAR said that with the onset of winter conditions, local weather is likely to be the dominating factor in determining air quality from now.
The air quality index of Delhi was 361 on Wednesday, up from 290 on Tuesday, as per the Central Pollution Control Board’s 4 p.m.bulletin, which is the average of the past 24 hours.