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Delhi breathes easier on Monday with AQI 139, but forecasters see 'poor' air from Wednesday
The capital's daily air quality average improved to 139 as the city logged its coldest October night yet at 17.1 degrees Celsius. The early warning system expects the air to slip into the 'poor' band on 21 October.
Key points
- Delhi's 24-hour average AQI was 139 at 4 pm on Monday, in the 'moderate' category.
- Safdarjung recorded a minimum of 17.1 degrees Celsius, the coldest night of October so far.
- Forecasters expect the air to turn 'poor' on 21 and 22 October, with no relief in the days after.
Delhi’s air improved on Monday, with the 24-hour average air quality index settling at 139 at 4 pm, according to the Central Pollution Control Board, even as the capital shivered through its coldest night of October so far.
The reading kept the city in the ‘moderate’ band, a clear step back from the 184 recorded on Sunday evening. Of the 58 monitoring stations that reported data, two were in the ‘poor’ range and six were ‘satisfactory’, with the rest ‘moderate’. Pusa was the worst spot, at 281.
The chill arrives
The India Meteorological Department said the minimum at Safdarjung, the city’s main weather station, fell to 17.1 degrees Celsius, 1.3 degrees below the seasonal average. An IMD official said it was the coldest night in the capital this month, a full degree and a half lower than the 18.6 degrees logged the night before.
The weather office expects mainly clear and dry days over the coming week, with minimums of 18 to 20 degrees and afternoons still warm at 31 to 35 degrees.
Worse days ahead
The respite may be brief. The Air Quality Early Warning System expects the air to stay ‘moderate’ on Tuesday, then slip to ‘poor’ on 21 and 22 October, and its outlook for the six days after that also points to ‘poor’ air. Forecasters warned that “unfavourable weather conditions could prevent pollutants from dispersing effectively”, with ventilation and wind speed expected to drop below the levels needed to clear the air.
Cooler, calmer nights pull pollution closer to the ground, and with the monsoon gone there is no rain in sight to wash it out. Dussehra effigy burnings on Tuesday evening and the run-up to Diwali typically add to the load.
Farm fires
Crop residue burning is also picking up across the region. The Consortium for Research on Agroecosystem Monitoring and Modelling from Space, at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute, counted 98 farm fires across six states on Monday: 27 in Uttar Pradesh, 25 in Punjab, 24 in Rajasthan, 18 in Uttarakhand and four in Madhya Pradesh. None were recorded in Haryana or Delhi.
Since 15 September the total stands at 1,171 incidents, led by Madhya Pradesh with 370 and Punjab with 368, followed by Rajasthan with 197 and Uttar Pradesh with 175.
The pollution board’s next daily bulletin, at 4 pm on Tuesday, will show whether Delhi holds on to its ‘moderate’ air through the festival.