IMD: Air quality drops down to severe zone, possibilities to get even worse in Delhi today

Reduced wind
speed, dense fog and low temperature pushed the air quality in Delhi into
‘severe’ category on Friday. The overall air quality index (AQI) in Delhi was
432 on Friday.

At 7.30pm,
the air quality at several monitoring stations had already dropped to the
emergency zone. The AQI at Okhla phase 2, Mundka, Pusa, Vivek Vihar, Ashok
Vihar, Nehru Nagar and Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium monitoring stations had crossed
the 450 mark.

The
particulate matter levels also showed an upward curve throughout Friday. At 1am
on Friday, the PM 2.5 (particulate matter with diameter less than 2.5
micrcometres) levels was recorded 233ug/m3.

By 8pm, the
levels were 273ug/m3, just a few points away from the emergency mark of
300ug/m3. The PM 10 (particulate matter with diameter less than 10 micrometres)
also shot up to 402ug/m3. The emergency mark for PM 10 levels are 500ug/m3.

Scientists
at the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said that from Thursday evening
the winds have remained calm and the dense fog spells in the morning and night
are making the situation worse.

A senior
scientist at the IMD said that the forecast is possibility of light rain from
late Friday night and Saturday, which will bring some relief for the pollution
levels.