NOIDA: The city's air quality improved slightly on Sunday as AQI dropped from Saturday's 323 (very poor) to 243 (poor). Noida was not the only city in the NCR to see such improvement. Greater Noida also recorded AQI in the ‘poor' category on Sunday at 250, against 307 the day before. Neighbouring Ghaziabad saw a similar drop in AQI at 252, down from 339 on Saturday.
Air monitoring stations across the two districts recorded AQI ranging from ‘moderate' to ‘very poor' on Sunday.
In Noida, Sector 62 recorded the worst AQI at 311 in the ‘very poor' category, followed by Sector 1 (241), Sector 125 (213) and Sector 116 (207) – all three in the ‘poor' category. In Greater Noida, both the Knowledge Park 5 and 3 stations recorded AQI in the ‘poor' category at 240 and 259, respectively.
Meanwhile, Ghaziabad's Indirapuram recorded the best air quality in the district with an AQI of 118 in the ‘moderate' category. On the other end of the spectrum, Loni recorded the worst AQI in the district at 312 (very poor), followed by Sanjay Nagar (275) and Vasundhara (243) – both in the ‘poor' category.
Meanwhile in Delhi, the air quality index receded to the poor range on Sunday, aided by consistent winds and less moisture, after a Saturday with a 'severe' AQI score.
The air quality index (AQI) was 348 at 11am, fell to 323 by 3pm and was 308 by 6pm. By 9pm, it was 297.
The average AQI of the capital was 412 on Saturday.
Sunday's reading, though poor, is the best Delhi has managed to get on the AQI scale in November.
On Sunday, the capital saw relatively clear skies and better wind conditions compared with the previous fortnight. Delhi got winds reaching up to 15 kmph. "The region received westerly winds, which are dry. The speed hovered between 10-15 kmph, starting late Saturday night, thus cleaning up the air quality. The wind speed is likely to be good for the next 2-3 days, with no possibility of fog, which means that the air quality may improve further," said Mahesh Palawat, vice-president of climate change and meteorology at Skymet.
According to the air quality early warning system by the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Monday may see predominant surface wind less than 8 kmph during morning hours, along with smog or shallow to moderate fog. The wind speed will increase thereafter, becoming close to 12 kmph from the northwest direction during the afternoon. It will decrease thereafter, becoming less than 8 kmph from the northwest direction during the evening and night, along with smog or shallow fog towards evening or night. The IITM expects the AQI to remain very poor.
"The air quality is likely to be in the ‘very poor' category from Nov 25-27. The outlook for the subsequent 6 days: The air quality is likely to be in the very poor to severe category," IITM's air quality early warning system said.