NEW DELHI: Cloudy skies greeted the National Capital Region (NCR) with light-to-moderate rain/thundershowers on Tuesday. Several parts of Delhi-NCR also witnessed hailstorms.
“Gusty wind will also prevail. The
maximum and minimum temperatures
will be around 20 and 11 degrees Celsius, respectively,” a Met official said on Monday.
Moderate to heavy rain
was recorded in several parts of the city on Monday. At 22.6 degree Celsius, the maximum temperature was one degree above normal. The minimum was 11.5 degrees Celsius, four notches above normal.
Till 5.30pm on Monday, 1.2mm of
rain was recorded in the city, but there were heavier showers later in the night.
Earlier on Sunday, the mercury climbed to 28.7 degrees Celsius, seven notches above average, making it the warmest day the capital has experienced in 2019. It was also the highest January temperature in 13 years and the second highest in at least 27 years for which data is available.
The air, too, cleaned up a bit on Monday as AQI touched 346, in the “very poor” category, an improvement from Sunday’s “severe” of 404. According to SAFAR, a significant improvement in air quality is expected. “There was an appreciable increase in wind speed to 4.6 kmp/h from Sunday’s 2.8kmp/h. AQI is likely to improve to poor by Wednesday,” the SAFAR report said.
CPCB
’s central control room data, meanwhile, showed NCR’s average PM2.5 and PM10 readings to be more than three times the safe standards on Monday. While the average PM2.5 at 7pm was recorded at 191.1 micrograms per cubic metre, the average PM10 at the same time was 335 micrograms per cubic metre. The safe standard for these ultra-fine particulates is 60 and 100 micrograms per cubic metres, respectively.
Under the
Graded Response Action
Plan,
pollution is considered ‘severe plus’ or ‘emergency’ when PM2.5 or PM10 are above 300 and 500 ug/m3, respectively. Measures listed under the emergency category are rolled out when these conditions prevail for 48 hours at a stretch.
Among the neighbouring cities, Faridabad’s AQI was rcorded at 319, Ghaziabad 375, Greater Noida 357 and Noida 352. Gurugram’s air, meanwhile, was “poor”.
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