Residents of Delhi woke up to “severe” air quality on Sunday morning as toxic smog enveloped the capital. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued a cold wave warning as the minimum temperature dipped below 5 degrees Celsius at several places.
Safdarjung, Delhi’s main weather station, reported a minimum temperature of 4.4 degrees Celsius on Saturday, while the mercury dropped to 4.9 degrees Celsius in Ajanagar. Skymet Weather’s Mahesh Palawat predicted light winter rainfall in the next few days and a rise in temperature till January 20, PTI reported.
In its latest weather bulletin, the IMD said, “Partly cloudy skies. Light fog at many places with dense fog at isolated places during morning hours. Maximum and minimum temperatures in Delhi are likely to be in the range of 21°C to 23°C and 04°C to 06°C respectively. The minimum temperature will be below normal (-1.6 to 06°C) and the maximum temperature will be -1.6 to -1.0°C. 3.0 °C) over Delhi.”
Delhi AQI today
Delhi’s 24-hour average air quality index (AQI) was recorded at 437 at 6:30 am, falling under the ‘severe’ category, according to data from the Central Pollution Control Board. Air quality deteriorated above the 450 mark at several monitoring stations that recorded Severe+ AQI, including Wazirpur, Sonia Vihar, Rohini, RK Puram, Punjabi Bagh, Patparganj, North Campus, Nehru Nagar, Mundka, Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Dwarka Sector 8, Chandni An Chowk, Viwanhar Cross, Ashok.
Anand Vihar recorded the worst air quality today with AQI reaching 489 on a scale of 500. Out of 37 monitoring stations, 31 registered AQI in the ‘severe’ range.
The Air Quality Management Commission has invoked Phase 4 of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) in Delhi-NCR on Saturday after the air quality worsened significantly. Due to the slow wind speed, stable atmosphere and adverse weather parameters, the AQI crossed the 400 point mark and entered the severe category.
IMD issues red alert for fog
The Met Office has now issued a fog warning for several places with low visibility. The IMD red alert for fog will remain in effect till 8:15 am “over parts of South East Delhi, East Delhi, Shahadra, Central Delhi, North East Delhi, South Delhi, New Delhi, South West Delhi, West Delhi, North West Delhi, North Delhi”. Meanwhile, rest of Delhi is under IMD yellow alert due to fog.
According to IMD, dense fog is likely to continue over northwest India and Bihar during the next 3-4 days. Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGI) recorded visibility of 350 meters at 6:00 a.m., prompting authorities to issue a warning to passengers against flight disruptions and delays due to “low visibility procedures”.