Delhi air quality improves, remains in moderate zone; min temp dips | Latest News Delhi

Delhi air quality improved but remained in the moderate category for a third day even as the minimum temperature dipped by a couple of notches to 12.3°C, or 2.7°C below the normal, on Friday a day after parts of the Capital recorded light rain due to a western disturbance. The highest minimum temperature so far this year—15°C— was recorded on Thursday.

The mercury was expected to go up to 26-28°C on Friday compared to 27.4°C. The impact of the western disturbance was expected to weaken from Friday. No rain was forecast for the next few days even as cloudy skies may persist.

An Air Quality Index (AQI) of 132 (moderate) was recorded at 9am on Friday compared to a 24-hour average of 160 (moderate) at 4pm on Thursday. The Early Warning System said the air quality was expected to remain in the “moderate” zone throughout Friday before deteriorating to the “poor” category on Saturday. The air quality was likely to be in the “poor” to “moderate” categories for the subsequent six days.

An AQI between 0 and 50 is classified as “good”, 51 and 100 “satisfactory”, 101 and 200 as “moderate”, 201 and 300 as “poor”, 301 and 400 as “very poor”, and over 400 as “severe”.