IMD issues 'yellow' alert for dense fog in Delhi on Saturday; air quality improves to 'poor'

A ‘yellow’ alert has been issued for Delhi, as dense fog is likely to affect visibility in the national capital on Saturday morning, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.

The weather office said a cold wave is expected to affect isolated places in the city between January 3 and January 6.

On Friday, Delhi’s 24-hour average Air Quality Index (AQI) stood at 236, compared to 380 recorded the previous day, indicating a significant improvement in air quality.

The maximum temperature in the national capital on Friday settled at 17.4 degrees Celsius, 1.9 degrees below normal, while the minimum temperature was registered at 9.1 degrees Celsius, 2.2 notches above the seasonal average, the IMD said.

Station-wise data showed that Lodhi Road recorded a maximum temperature of 17.4 degrees Celsius, followed by 17.2 degrees Celsius in Ayanagar, 14 degrees Celsius in Ridge and 16.4 degrees Celsius in Palam.

The minimum temperature stood at 9 degrees Celsius at Palam and Lodhi Road, followed by 8.7 degrees Celsius at the Ridge and 8.1 degrees Celsius at Ayanagar.

On Saturday, the minimum temperature is expected to be around 7 degrees Celsius and the maximum about 18 degrees Celsius, with dense fog likely in the morning, according to the IMD.

It has also predicted a cold wave in isolated pockets of Delhi and Haryana between January 3 and January 6.

A cold wave is declared when the minimum temperature drops by 4.5 degrees Celsius to 6.5 degrees Celsius below the average temperature.

Safdarjung logged the lowest visibility of 800 metres between 1.30 am and 2 am on Friday, which later improved to 1,200 metres by 2.30 am.

Data from the Central Pollution Control Board’s (CPCB) SAMEER app showed that 15 monitoring stations were in the ‘moderate’ category, 20 in ‘poor’ and one in ‘very poor’, with NSIT Dwarka recording the worst AQI of 367 in the evening.

In the morning, air quality in the national capital remained in the ‘very poor’ category, with an AQI reading of 302.

According to the CPCB classification, an AQI between zero and 50 is considered ‘good’, 51 to 100 ‘satisfactory’, 101 to 200 ‘moderate’, 201 to 300 ‘poor’, 301 to 400 ‘very poor’ and 401 to 500 ‘severe’.

The Decision Support System (DSS) showed that Delhi’s pollution load was led by transport at 11.11 per cent, followed by peripheral industries at 8.4 per cent, residential sources at 2.8 per cent, construction at 1.4 per cent and waste burning at one per cent.

Among the NCR districts, Muzaffarnagar accounted for 7.5 per cent of the overall contribution, followed by Sonipat at 7.1 per cent, Baghpat at 8.2 per cent, Meerut at 4.2 per cent, Jhajjar at 3.4 per cent, Gautam Budh Nagar at 2.2 per cent and Ghaziabad at 1.8 per cent.

The air quality is likely to remain in the ‘poor’ category from Saturday and may deteriorate to the ‘very poor’ category between January four and January five, according to the Air Quality Early Warning System.

The Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) in NCR and Adjoining Areas on Friday revoked curbs imposed under Stage III of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) following improvement in air quality, officials said.

“The AQI of Delhi, which was recorded as 380 on Thursday, has significantly improved and recorded 236 at 4 pm on Friday, exhibiting a trend. Keeping in view the prevailing trend of air quality, the CAQM Sub-Committee on GRAP decides to revoke all actions as envisaged under Stage III of the extant GRAP, with immediate effect, in the entire NCR,” an official said.

“All actions under Stages I and II of the extant GRAP will remain in force in the NCR,” the official added.