Dense fog warning for Delhi on Saturday as air quality improves to ‘poor’

A yellow alert has been issued for Delhi as dense fog is likely to affect visibility on Saturday morning, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Friday, while the city’s air quality showed a marked improvement from the previous day.

The weather office said a cold wave is expected to affect isolated places in the national capital between January 3 and January 6.

On Friday, Delhi’s 24-hour average Air Quality Index (AQI) stood at 236, compared to 380 recorded a day earlier, indicating a significant improvement in air quality.

The maximum temperature in the city settled at 17.4 degree celsius, 1.9 degree celsius below normal, while the minimum temperature was recorded at 9.1 degree celsius, 2.2 degree celsius above the seasonal average, the IMD said.

Station-wise data showed Lodhi Road recorded a maximum temperature of 17.4 degree celsius, followed by 17.2 degree celsius at Ayanagar, 14 degree celsius at Ridge and 16.4 degree celsius at Palam.

The minimum temperature stood at 9 degree celsius at Palam and Lodhi Road, followed by 8.7 degree celsius at the Ridge and 8.1 degree celsius at Ayanagar.

For Saturday, the IMD has forecast a minimum temperature of around 7 degree celsius and a maximum of about 18 degree celsius, with dense fog likely during the morning hours.

The department has also predicted a cold wave in isolated pockets of Delhi and Haryana between January 3 and January 6. A cold wave is declared when the minimum temperature drops by 4.5 degree celsius to 6.5 degree celsius below the average temperature.

Visibility dropped sharply in parts of the city, with Safdarjung recording the lowest visibility of 800 metres between 1.30 am and 2 am on Friday, which later improved to 1,200 metres by 2.30 am.

According to data from the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB)’s SAMEER app, 15 monitoring stations were in the ‘moderate’ category, 20 in ‘poor’, and one in ‘very poor’, with NSIT Dwarka recording the worst AQI of 367 in the evening.

In the morning, air quality in the national capital remained in the ‘very poor’ category, with an AQI reading of 302.

Under the CPCB classification, an AQI between zero and 50 is considered ‘good’, 51 to 100 ‘satisfactory’, 101 to 200 ‘moderate’, 201 to 300 ‘poor’, 301 to 400 ‘very poor’, and 401 to 500 ‘severe’.

Data from the Decision Support System (DSS) showed that Delhi’s pollution load was led by transport at 11.11 per cent, followed by peripheral industries at 8.4 per cent, residential sources at 2.8 per cent, construction at 1.4 per cent, and waste burning at one per cent.

Among the NCR districts, Muzaffarnagar accounted for 7.5 per cent of the overall contribution, followed by Baghpat at 8.2 per cent, Sonipat at 7.1 per cent, Meerut at 4.2 per cent, Jhajjar at 3.4 per cent, Gautam Budh Nagar at 2.2 per cent, and Ghaziabad at 1.8 per cent.

The Air Quality Early Warning System has forecast that air quality is likely to remain in the ‘poor’ category from Saturday and may deteriorate to ‘very poor’ between January four and January five.

Following the improvement, the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) on Friday revoked curbs imposed under Stage III of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP).

“The AQI of Delhi, which was recorded as 380 on Thursday, has significantly improved and recorded 236 at 4 pm on Friday, exhibiting a trend. Keeping in view the prevailing trend of air quality, the CAQM Sub-Committee on GRAP decides to revoke all actions as envisaged under Stage III of the extant GRAP, with immediate effect, in the entire NCR,” an official said.

“All actions under Stages I and II of the extant GRAP will remain in force in the NCR,” the official added.

(With inputs from agencies)