NEW DELHI: The city's air quality has continued to be ‘very poor' as the minimum temperature has started sliding.
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While consistent winds kept Delhi's skies clear and blue, the air quality index (AQI) still hovered at the lower level of the ‘very poor' category, and has worsened since Wednesday.
On Thursday, Delhi saw the season's coldest night when the minimum temperature was 10.1 degrees Celsius, the lowest so far.
On Nov 21, the city recorded 10.2 degrees Celsius.
Forecasts indicate the minimum could fall below 10 degrees Celsius on Friday, before showing a slight increase of 1-2 degrees Celsius during the weekend.
Meanwhile, the air quality saw a slight deterioration over the day.
The AQI was 313 at 9am, which deteriorated to 324 by 3pm. The city's 24-hour average AQI reached 325 ('very poor') at 4pm, according to the Central Pollution Control Board's (CPCB) daily national bulletin.
This was a deterioration from Wednesday's reading of 303 ('very poor').
Weather analysts noted consistent wind speeds of 10-12 km/hr during both days, but predict reduced speeds over the weekend due to an approaching western disturbance. "The winds will slow down within the next two to three days, going calm. This will impact the air quality negatively," said an official from the India Meteorological Department (IMD).
IITM's Air Quality Early Warning System for Delhi (EWS) has predicted: "The air quality is likely to be in the Very Poor category from November 29, 2024, to December 1, 2024. The outlook for the subsequent six days: The air quality is likely to be in the Very Poor category."
By 6pm, while most of the monitored air quality stations by CPCB were within the upper limit of the very poor category, Mundka was in the severe level with an AQI of 405.
IMD also reported shallow fog with minimum visibility of 600 metres at Safdarjung at 7.30am.
A notable decrease in minimum temperature has occurred over four days, influenced by cold northwesterly winds. Records show temperatures of 14 degrees Celsius on Nov 25, 11.9 degrees Celsius on Nov 26, and 10.4 degrees Celsius on Nov 27. Some stations registered even lower temperatures.
Lodhi Road recorded 9.2 degrees Celsius and Narela 9.8 degrees. Although Safdarjung typically experiences sub-10 degrees Celsius temperatures by the end of Nov, this year's decline arrived later, due to a delayed winter.
According to the records, Nov's lowest minimums were 9.2 degrees Celsius on Nov 23, 2023, 7.3 degrees Celsius on Nov 29, 2022, and 9.2 degrees Celsius on Nov 24, 2021, and 6.3 degrees Celsius on Nov 23, 2020.
Thursday's maximum temperature reached 27.3 degrees Celsius, one degree above normal and 0.3 degrees Celsius higher than Wednesday. Weekend forecasts suggest maximum temperatures around 25 degrees Celsius.