Delhi's Air Quality dips to 'poor' category days after slight improvement; overall AQI at 249

New Delhi: The air quality in Delhi-NCR further dipped into the ‘poor’ category on Thursday a day after showing improvement, with the overall AQI being recorded at 249. According to System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR), the air quality deteriorated from the ‘moderate’ category a day ago.

A layer of smog covers the national capital Delhi this morning. Air quality plunges into 'Poor' category, overall AQI at 249. pic.twitter.com/vlDJdUDa64

— ANI (@ANI) November 17, 2022

Delhi had been witnessing significant improvement in the AQI over the last few days New Delhi`s air quality had improved on Wednesday to the "moderate" category. However, this morning the national capital was shrouded in a layer of smog. 

The AQI was 235 at Gurugram, 300 at Noida and 266 at IIT Delhi, all in the poor category. According to the SAFAR, the overall Air Quality Index (AQI) in Delhi stood at 249 this morning. The air pollution levels in Delhi came down to the `poor` category from `very poor` on Tuesday as the national capital recorded an AQI of 221.

While the minimum temperature settled at 11.3 degrees Celsius, one notch below normal, the maximum temperature is expected to hover around 27 degrees Celsius, the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) bulletin said in its forecast for Thursday. According to the data by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), the overall Air Quality Index (AQI) at 9 AM stood at 253 (poor category) on Thursday.

Air Quality Index is a tool for effective communication of air quality status to people in terms, which are easy to understand. It transforms complex air quality data of various pollutants into a single number (index value), nomenclature and colour.

An AQI between zero and 50 is considered good, 51 and 100 satisfactory, 101 and 200 moderate, 201 and 300 poor, 301 and 400 very poor, and 401 and 500 severe. The relative humidity at 8.30 am was 72 per cent.