The air quality in the national capital continued to remain in the “very poor” category as the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR) recorded Delhi’s Air Quality Index (AQI) at 346 on Tuesday morning.
On Monday, the SAFAR recorded Delhi’s AQI at 317. At the Delhi University area, the air quality was recorded as “very poor,” with the presence of PM 2.5 in the air recorded at 371, whereas the Pusa area recorded it at 341.
In its latest forecast, the SAFAR recorded the quality of the air in Dhirpur as “severe,” as the AQI here reached 460. Noida also saw the air quality fall into the “severe” category as the AQI rose to 438 today.
Meanwhile, Lodhi Road and Mathura Road also experienced “very poor” air quality, with AQIs of 306 and 344, respectively.
The AQI at Delhi Airport Terminal 3 was also recorded as “very poor,” at 347.
Air Quality Index is a tool for effectively communicating air quality status to people in terms that are easy to understand. It transforms complex air quality data of various pollutants into a single number (an “index value”), nomenclature, and colour.
The Air Quality Index from 0 to 100 is considered good, while from 100 to 200 it is moderate, from 200 to 300 it is poor, from 300 to 400 it is said to be very poor, and from 400 to 500 or above it is considered severe.
Amid continuing poor air quality, the Sub-Committee for invoking actions under the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) held a meeting on November 18 to review the progress of the actions implemented under Stage II along with Stage I of the GRAP in the entire NCR.
As per the dynamic model and weather/meteorological forecast provided by IMD and IITM, the overall air quality is likely to fluctuate largely between the “poor” and “very poor” categories in the next few days. The surface wind is predicted to be coming from the north or north-west direction in Delhi, the Ministry of Environment, Forestry, and Climate Change said.