Delhi Welcomes The New Year With A 'Severe' Air Quality

A new year brings new hopes, but may not be for the toxic air quality in the national capital and adjoining areas.On Wednesday, the first day of the new year 2020, Delhi woke up to 'severe' air quality.?

The overall air quality in Delhi stood at 462, according to data provided by the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC).Mathura Road in Delhi recorded the worst air quality on Wednesday with an AQI of 528.?

The AQI recorded in Anand Vihar was at 412, RK Puram 39 and Rohini at 439.Among the cities in NCR, the AQI in Noida stood at 470, while it was 363 in Gurugram.On Tuesday also the pollution level of the national capital remained in the 'severe' category with AQI crossing 430 prompting System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR) to advise people to avoid outdoor activities.?

An AQI between 0-50 is considered good, 51-100 is satisfactory, 101-200 moderate, 201-300 poor, 301-400 very poor and 401-500 is marked as severe/hazardous.

"The very calm condition that prevailed for the last three days is ending. SAFAR model suggests under the influence of approaching western disturbance surface winds are likely to pick and improved ventilation is likely to affect AQI positively. AQI is forecasted to improve to the middle-end of the very poor category by the new year day (1st January 2020). Further significant improvement in AQI towards the lower-end of 'very poor' to 'poor' category is expecting by January 2nd. As per SAFAR-model, Wednesday's top 3 Air Pollution Hot spots of Delhi are likely to be Badarpur, AIIMS, Adarsh Nagar, and Rohini," SAFAR forecast predicted.?

The AQI is likely to remain in the same category for at least a few more days before it improves. This is mostly due to the coldwave conditions still prevalent in most of northern India. Though the severe cold conditions that gripped the national capital during the weekend have improved, Delhiites continued to remain in grip of the cold wave on Wednesday as the minimum temperature settled at 2.4 degrees Celsius, five notches below normal.?

"The minimum temperature was recorded at 2.4 degrees Celsius, five notches below normal," a MeT official said, adding, the humidity was 97 per cent.The air quality recorded at 9.38 am was 433 in the "severe" category.According to the Meteorological department, the sky would be partly cloudy with some fog in the morning.