Delhi's air quality remains in 'very poor' category, AQI at 301

Delhi's air quality remained in the 'very poor' category today, with overall AQI at 301, according to System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR)-India.

Representational Image (Credits: PTI)

New Delhi: The national capital's air quality was recorded in the "very poor" category as the Ministry of Earth Sciences' System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR) noted an Air Quality Index (AQI) of 301 on Sunday (January 16, 2021).

“Delhi's air quality remains in the 'very poor' category, with overall AQI at 301,” said SAFAR-India. 

Delhi's air quality remains in the 'very poor' category, with overall AQI at 301 as per System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR)-India pic.twitter.com/hfyV8GcFbg

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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". 

Yesterday, Delhi reported an AQI of 339 thereby standing in the very poor category.

Meanwhile, Delhi shivered under cold day conditions for a second consecutive day on Saturday recording the season's lowest maximum temperature at 14.8 degrees Celsius, with thick fog blotting out the sun.

The minimum temperature at the Safdarjung Observatory, which is considered the official marker for the city, settled at 6.1 degrees Celsius, a notch below normal, it said, adding that similar conditions are predicted for Sunday too.

"Today also there was a layer of moderate fog/low cloud over Delhi-NCR, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and north Rajasthan. It prevented the sunlight from reaching the surface. Light north westerlies are also blowing over the region. These conditions led to a cold day," an IMD official said.

Severe cold day conditions persisted at Narela and Jafarpur, where the maximum temperature dipped to 10.7 degrees Celsius and 10.9 degrees Celsius, seven and nine notches below normal, respectively.

Earlier, IMD has said that the minimum temperature in New Delhi for this week is likely to remain below 10 degrees Celsius. IMD has also forecasted that the national capital will witness Light rainfall on Wednesday and Thursday.

(With agency inputs)