Delhi's ‘poor’ air condition prevails; ‘very poor’ quality likely today

The people of Delhi are forced to breath ‘poor’ air as the air quality index (AQI) in the national capital sees a further deterioration. The average AQI recorded today was 286 which is a few notches up from yesterday's 262-mark, according to SAFAR-India's data, keeping the range few digits away from ‘very poor’ category.

The AQI in the national capital region is also not faring well. The score in Noida touched 255-mark, whereas in Gurugram, it is in boderline between ‘moderate’ and ‘poor’ categories.

The air quality is expected to deteriorate further over the weekend and return to the very poor category. “Delhi’s air quality...is likely to be very poor on Saturday and Sunday. The outlook for the subsequent six days shows the air quality is likely to remain in between very poor and poor,” said a bulletin of the Union earth sciences ministry’s Early Warning System.

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

Meanwhile, Delhi has been experiencing a below-normal temperature as the mercury plunged to the lowest this season to 15.2°C.

The minimum temperatures were likely to hover around the 16°C mark until October 30 while the maximum between 31 and 33°C.