‘Poor’ air likely today as winds set to blow dust over Delhi-NCR

NOIDA/ NEW DELHI: Air quality in Delhi-NCR is likely to deteriorate to 'poor' category on Tuesday due to high concentration of dust. Local dry westerly winds from Rajasthan are predicted to transport dust to the region, experts said.
Central Pollution Control Board’s data shows that Delhi’s overall Air Quality Index (AQI) was 195 in the ‘moderate’ category on Monday. It had touched the ‘poor’ category on Sunday with an AQI of 217.
Both Noida and Ghaziabad saw ‘moderate’ air quality with AQIs of 187 and 196, respectively, on Monday. Greater Noida’s air quality was recorded in the ‘poor’ category with an AQI of 228. On Sunday, Noida recorded an AQI of 197, Greater Noida 249 and Ghaziabad 200.
According to Air Quality Early Warning System for Delhi, the air quality is likely to remain in the ‘poor’ category on Tuesday and Wednesday and may improve to the ‘moderate’ category on Thursday.
VK Soni, head, environment and research centre, India Meteorological Department, said, “Dust concentration is high and it is expected to increase in the next two days. As strong winds are blowing in the city, local dust raising is happening. Besides, since wind direction is northwesterly, dry winds from north west India will transport dust to Delhi.”
Meanwhile, the Delhi government has announced that it will prepare a summer action plan to deal with high pollution levels from April to September. Delhi environment minister Gopal Rai will conduct a meeting with departments concerned on Tuesday to prepare the plan. The departments have also been asked to submit their plans.
Meanwhile, there was a slight rise in Delhi’s maximum temperature which was recorded at 34.9 degrees Celsius, the season’s normal, on Monday — the highest in the year so far, the weather department said, adding it is expected to reach around 38 degrees Celsius later this week. On Sunday, the maximum temperature was recorded at 34.8 degrees Celsius — the second highest in the year so far.
Noida recorded a minimum temperature 16.2 degrees and a maximum of 32.9 degrees. In Ghaziabad, the daytime temperature was 36 degrees Celsius and the minimum was 17 degrees.
According to weather analysts, the daytime temperature has remained below normal but it may see a gradual rise and weather conditions are likely to get drier and warmer.
“The temperature will see a gradual increase and it may reach 38 to 39 degrees Celsius in a week. Since there was rain over a large part of India in the initial days of the month, the temperatures did not rise drastically. Now that the rain has stopped, the region may see dry weather along with a gradual rise in temperature,” said Mahesh Palawat, vice chairman, meteorology and climate change, Skymet.
According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), April recorded has witnessed rain on three days so far while the maximum temperature has remained below normal. Last year, April had only one day of scattered rain while there were nine days of heatwave conditions, which occurs when the maximum temperature is above 40 degrees Celsius and is at least 4.5 notches above normal. In April last year, there was the highest number of heatwaves since 2011. However, this year, the weather due to scattered rain was comparatively pleasant, officials said.