Delhi records hazardous air with several areas in ‘severe plus’ category

Delhi woke up to hazardous air quality on Tuesday morning as thick fog and haze enveloped the city, with the Air Quality Index (AQI) crossing the 400 mark at 27 monitoring stations and several others slipping into the ‘severe plus’ category.

At 9 am on Tuesday, the overall AQI in the national capital stood at 415, worsening from the ‘very poor’ category recorded a day earlier, according to data from the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).

Out of 40 air quality monitoring stations across the city, 27 reported ‘severe’ air quality with AQI readings above 400, a level associated with serious health impacts.

Five stations were placed in the ‘severe plus’ category, recording AQI levels above 450. Anand Vihar recorded an AQI of 470, followed by Nehru Nagar at 463, Okhla at 459, Mundka at 459, and Sirifort at 450, as per data from the CPCB’s SAMEER app.

According to CPCB standards, an AQI between 0 and 50 is categorised as ‘good’, 51 to 100 as ‘satisfactory’, 101 to 200 as ‘moderate’, 201 to 300 as ‘poor’, 301 to 400 as ‘very poor’, and 401 to 500 as ‘severe’.

Weather conditions further affected the situation, with dense fog leading to a sharp reduction in visibility across the city. Palam recorded visibility of 50 metres under dense fog conditions with west-southwesterly winds at 5 kmph at 8 am, while Safdarjung reported visibility of 100 metres with calm winds at the same time.

Visibility improved marginally by 8.30 am. Palam recorded 100 metres visibility under dense fog with west-southwesterly winds at 5 kmph, while Safdarjung reported visibility of 150 metres with calm winds.

Delhi’s minimum temperature settled at 8.8 degrees Celsius, which is 1.3 degrees above the normal level, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said

The maximum temperature is expected to be around 23 degrees Celsius, with the weather department forecasting dense fog conditions during the day.