Residents of Delhi woke up to foggy conditions and a “poor” AQI on Friday morning. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has warned of the impact of another fresh western disturbance likely to hit northwest India from February 2 as it has noted the presence of a “Subtropical Westerly Jet Stream” over northeast India.
The Met Office predicted shallow to moderate fog with “generally cloudy skies” on 30 January. The latest IMD weather bulletin said, “Generally cloudy skies. Shallow fog at many places with light fog at isolated places during morning hours. Maximum and minimum temperatures in Delhi are likely to be in the range of 18°C to 20°C and 09°C to 11°C respectively. The minimum temperature will be above normal (1.6°C) and about 3.0°C below the maximum (-3.1°C to -5.0°C) above Delhi.”
Data from monitoring stations across the capital showed maximum temperatures remained below normal during the day, with Palam recording the highest departure on January 29. Delhi’s Safdarjung Primary Weather Station recorded a minimum temperature of 11 degrees Celsius and a maximum temperature of 18.4 degrees Celsius.
The Met Office has predicted that minimum temperatures will drop by 3 to 4 degrees Celsius today and tomorrow before rising by 5 to 7 degrees Celsius. The IMD has issued a yellow warning for heavy rains on January 31 and February 1.
Delhi wakes up to ‘poor’ AQI, fog
The average Air Quality Index (AQI) recorded a significant improvement on January 30. Rainfall in recent days has brought down the AQI levels, which stood at 231 in the ‘poor’ category at 6 am on January 30, the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) said.
Of the 39 monitoring stations across the city, 13 registered “moderate” AQI, while 22 reported “poor” air quality. Jahangirpuri, RK Puram, Nehru Nagar and Sirifort recorded the worst AQIs with a value above 300 on a 500-point scale, falling under the “very poor” category.
Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGI) reported visibility of 800 meters at 6:00 am. As fog enveloped the capital on Friday morning, the Delhi airport issued an advisory to passengers that said: “Low visibility procedures are currently underway at Delhi Airport. All flights are operating normally.”
