A worker washes trees on a polluted day in New Delhi on Friday. (Express Photo: Praveen Khanna) Delhi has been witnessing overcast skies and light rainfall that began in the early hours of Saturday. The possibility of thunderstorms with rainfall remains on the forecast for the day.
A western disturbance has brought rainfall to parts of northwest India. A cyclonic circulation associated with the western disturbance lies over south Pakistan and adjoining southwest Rajasthan. According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), western disturbances are storms that originate in the Mediterranean Sea, Caspian Sea or Black Sea and move eastwards across north India, bringing winter rainfall.
Between 11.30 pm on Friday and 8.30 am on Saturday, the Safdarjung weather observatory recorded 4.9 mm of rainfall. Of this, 2.7 mm was received between 5.30 am and 8.30 am. The Palam observatory recorded the highest amount of rainfall with 6.3 mm, while the Aya Nagar weather observatory recorded 4.6 mm.
The minimum temperature on Saturday is forecasted to be 11 degrees Celsius, while the maximum temperature is likely to be 16 degrees Celsius. The maximum temperature over the past 24 hours was 19.6 degrees Celsius, two degrees below the normal. The minimum temperature recorded over the past 24 hours was 11.5 degrees Celsius, four degrees above the normal. At 8.30 am on Saturday, the temperature was 12 degrees Celsius.
By January 27, the minimum temperature is likely to drop to around 6 degrees Celsius, the IMD forecast indicates.
Strong winds and rainfall on Saturday are likely to bring an improvement in air quality. The AQI is predicted to reach the ‘poor’ to ‘moderate’ category on Saturday, from ‘very poor’ on Friday. The AQI on Friday was 365, and it was the fifth consecutive day for which the air quality remained in the ‘very poor’ category.
Most air quality monitoring stations recorded 24-hour average AQI in the ‘very poor’ or ‘poor’ categories at 9 am on Saturday. AQI between 301 and 400 is considered to be ‘very poor’, while AQI in the 201 to 300 range is categorised as ‘poor’. At the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, the AQI was 333, while the monitoring station at ITO recorded an AQI of 346. The only station that recorded 24-hour average AQI in the ‘severe’ category on Saturday morning was Jahangirpuri, with a figure of 413.
The concentration of particulate matter fell at some stations on Saturday morning. At Mandir Marg, for instance, the PM10 concentration fell from 307 µg/m3 at 2 am to 160 µg/m3 at 9 am, going by data from the Delhi Pollution Control Committee. The wind speed increased from 1.5 m/s at 2 am to 2.3 m/s at 9 am.
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