New Delhi, Nov 12 (Bureau) As a thick blanket of smoke and haze gripped the national capital on Friday morning, the air quality worsened and is now classified in the ‘severe’ category, the Air Quality Index (AQI) crossed the 450 mark around 10 am, said the India Metrological Department(IMD). In its morning bulletin, IMD said, “the air quality over Delhi-NCT is likely to remain in the upper end of very poor to a severe category on November 12 and 13. whereas the air quality is likely to remain in the upper end of very poor category on November 14.” “Slow winds during day times and calm winds during evening/night are extremely unfavorable for dispersion of pollutants. The unfavorable meteorological conditions are likely to prevail for next five days,” said the IMD. The air quality is likely to be in the ‘upper end of very poor’ to ‘severe’ category for the next two days, According to the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research, (SAFAR).
The agency said the effective fire count reduced to 3914 on Friday whereas the share of crop residue burning is about 26 pc in PM2.5. According to the Centre Pollution Control Board, the 24-hour average concentration of the lung damaging fine partials known as PM2.5 stood at 346 micrograms per cubic meter in the morning, which is six times more than the safe limit of 60 micrograms per cubic meter. The PM10 level was recorded at 504 Micrograms cubic meters. In some areas, the air quality touched the ‘hazardous’ category, crossing the 500 AQI mark. An AQI between zero and 50 is considered ‘good’, between the 51 to 100 level is ‘satisfactory’, 101 and 200 is ‘moderate’, 201 and 300 is ‘poor’, 301 and 400 is ‘very poor’, and 401 and 500 is ‘severe’. The air quality in the city was in the ‘Severe’ category on Thursday as well as the Delhi recorded the season’s lowest temperature at 12.6 degrees Celsius. Meanwhile, The IMD has forecast a clear sky with mist or shallow fog in the city in the coming days. “On Friday the maximum temperature would be around 26, while the minimum temprature would be 12 degrees Celsius,” said the IMD.