Air quality in Delhi improves to best since October 29

NEW DELHI: The city recorded its best air quality since Oct 29, but hold on to that deep breath of satisfaction because Delhi's AQI was still 'poor'.

Several stations continued to suffer very poor air quality. None recorded severe levels.

The slight relief after 32 days was due to a number of reasons, including consistent westerly winds and a sharp drop in incidents of farm fires in Punjab and Haryana, where the winds were flowing from.

The air quality index (AQI) was 302 at 11 am, then improved to 295 by noon and 284 by 7pm. The average air quality index (AQI) on Sunday was 285, against 346 a day earlier.

The air quality early warning system by IITM has said: "The air quality is likely to be in the 'very poor' category from Dec 2-3." It is likely to be in the 'poor' category on Dec 4.

"On Sunday, the wind speed increased and reached up to 10-15 kmph during the afternoon. It was up to 10 kmph during the day hours. The winds were consistent and came from a single direction, which is westerly. It's likely to remain the same for the next two days at least, so AQI may remain in the 'poor' category. There was a western disturbance which passed without major impact on the region. There was fresh snowfall in the higher range of the Himalayas, so the temperature, which soared on Sunday, will drop again," said Mahesh Palawat, vice-chairman of meteorology and climate change at Skymet.

According to the advance air quality forecast, the city may, however, see smog or shallow fog on Monday morning and evening.

On Sunday, the PM2.5 levels hovered between 142 to 114.5 micrograms per cubic metre, against 24-hourly standards of 60 micrograms per cubic metre. The PM10 levels hovered between 232.6 to 209.6 micrograms per cubic metre, against the national standard of 100 units and 45 units as per WHO standards.