Delhi air quality deteriorates, AQI settles in 'Very Poor' category; light rain predicted

The air pollution level in the national capital and areas around it deteriorated severely on Monday morning with the Air Quality Index (AQI) reaching the mid of the 'Very Poor' category. In the morning, the AQI in Delhi docked at 340, according to the Center-run System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR).

The AQI was recorded the highest in Mathura Road at 386, followed by Delhi University at 354, Dhirpur at 350, Lodhi Road at 333, Airport (T3) at 331, Pusa at 327, IIT Delhi at 322, Chandni Chowk at 321, and Ayanagar at 319. The AQI in Noida stood at 371 and Gurugram at 332.

An AQI between 0-50 is considered `good`, 51-100 `satisfactory`, 101-200 `moderate`, 201-300 `poor`, 301-400 `very poor` and 401-500 is marked as `severe`. An AQI above 500 falls in the `severe plus` category. During winter each year, most of northern India suffers from a spike in toxicity in the air due to the change in weather patterns and crop residue burning in the neighbouring states of Haryana, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh.

The temperature at 6.30 am in Delhi's Safdarjung was 9 degrees Celsius and Palam was 11 degrees Celsius. In the national capital, the minimum temperature was recorded at 8 degrees Celsius while the maximum temperature is likely to go up to 22 degrees Celsius. The sky will be cloudy throughout the day and light rain is also expected.

Under the influence of approaching western disturbance isolated rainfall and increased wind speed are forecasted by late night. On January 14 (Tuesday) the AQI is likely to improve towards the 'Poor' category and likely to stay in the same category for the next day (January 15).