Day after downpour, Delhi shivers

A day after the rain lashed the city, the national capital on Saturday witnessed a sharp dip in temperature and a slight improvement in the air quality.

According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the Safdarjung station recorded a minimum temperature of 7.6 degrees Celsius, 0.1 degrees above the season’s normal, marking a sharp fall from Friday’s low of 13.7 degrees Celsius, which was highest in four years.

Among other major stations, Palam and Lodhi Road both saw minimum temperatures of 6.8 degrees Celsius, while The Ridge recorded the minimum temperature of 6.6 degrees Celsius and Ayanagar 6 degrees Celsius, the coldest among all stations.

The air quality saw a slight improvement on Saturday, with the average Air Quality Index (AQI) settling at 192, in the ‘moderate’ category, against 293 on Friday, according to the Central Pollution Control Board’s (CPCB) Sameer app.

According to the CPCB, an AQI between 0 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’.

The Air Quality Early Warning System has forecast Delhi’s air quality to remain in the ‘poor’ category for the next two days. The outlook for the subsequent six days shows that it is likely to be in the ‘poor’ to ‘very poor’ category.

According to the IMD, the maximum and minimum temperatures are likely to be in the ranges of 17 to 19 degrees Celsius and 6 to 8 degrees Celsius, respectively. The minimum temperature will be near normal and the maximum temperature will be 1.3 to 3.3 degrees Celsius below normal, it said.

The IMD has also predicted generally cloudy sky and shallow to moderate fog during morning hours, with strong surface winds with speeds ranging from 10-20 km per hour.