Fog grips Delhi: Air quality stays in very poor zone; likely to turn severe by end of December

NEW DELHI: The air quality remained very poor for the second straight day on Wednesday, though the air quality index (AQI) marginally improved from 354 a day earlier to 334, helped by strong winds flowing into the city.

No respite is likely with the air predicted to hover within the same category until Dec 20. It may deteriorate to severe in the last week of this month, the Air Quality Early Warning System for Delhi said.


According to Decision Support System, which estimates local and regional sources of pollution in Delhi's air, emissions from Haryana's Jhajjar were recorded at 16.53%, followed by the city's own vehicular emissions at 16.32%. Industries in the city and its periphery accounted for just over 8% of pollutants. "Though westerly winds briefly blew at 8-10kmph during the day, a layer of shallow fog trapped the pollutants," said an official.

Owing to the fog, a visibility of 800 metres was recorded at Palam at 8 am and 700m at Safdarjung, the city's base station, at 8.30 am, said an official of India Meteorological Department (IMD).

Though visibility was relatively better than the previous days, 24 flights were cancelled and over 200 delayed. "Some flights were cancelled in advance. Others were impacted due to low visibility at other airports," an official said.

On Tuesday, more than 500 flights were delayed and over 100 cancelled at IGI Airport. On Monday, over 800 flights faced delays, more than 200 were cancelled and five diverted.

The Met department forecast shallow fog will continue in the region until Dec 20. Moderate fog will envelop isolated pockets. A yellow alert was issued for moderate to dense fog on Dec 21 and 22.

Delhi recorded a maximum temperature of 24.7 degrees Celsius, three degrees above normal. The minimum stood at 10.4, two notches above normal.