Delhi Air Quality Hits 'Severe' Level, Minimum Temperature Drops to 7.5°C

NEW DELHI: Delhi's air quality was in the "severe" category on Saturday morning, December 21, with an average AQI of 434 recorded in Nehru Nagar. 

For reference, the AQI scale ranges from 0-50 (good), 51-100 (satisfactory), 101-200 (moderate), 201-300 (poor), 301-400 (very poor), to 401-500 (severe).

The city also recorded a minimum temperature of 7.5°C, which is 2.5°C higher than the seasonal average, as per the India Meteorological Department (IMD).

At 8:30 AM, the humidity level stood at 100%. The IMD has forecasted partly cloudy skies for the day, with the maximum temperature expected to reach 24°C. 

Forecasts by the Centre’s Early Warning System for Delhi (EWS) show winds are likely to pick up by Saturday, pushing the AQI back down to very poor again.

“A feeble western disturbance is impacting northwest India and winds have been fairly stagnant. The same western disturbance has also brought moisture, which also helps traps pollutants,” said Mahesh Palawat, vice president at Skymet meteorology. He said though wind speeds picked up briefly during the day on Thursday, going up to 15 km/hr, they once again dropped by late evening.