Delhi wakes up to hazardous air as AQI crosses 400 mark; several areas in 'severe' category
PTC News Desk: Delhi began Tuesday under a blanket of dense fog and smog, with air quality deteriorating sharply as AQI levels crossed the 400 mark—classified as ‘severe’—at most monitoring stations. By 9 am, the city’s overall AQI stood at 415, worsening from the ‘very poor’ category recorded a day earlier, according to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).
Of the 40 air quality monitoring stations across the Capital, 27 reported AQI readings above 400, indicating severe pollution levels with serious health risks. Five stations slipped into the ‘severe plus’ category, recording AQI levels above 450. Anand Vihar registered the highest reading at 470, followed by Nehru Nagar at 463, Okhla and Mundka at 459 each, and Sirifort at 450, CPCB data showed.
As per CPCB norms, AQI values between 0–50 are classified as ‘good’, 51–100 as ‘satisfactory’, 101–200 as ‘moderate’, 201–300 as ‘poor’, 301–400 as ‘very poor’, and 401–500 as ‘severe’.
Weather conditions further aggravated the situation, with dense fog causing a sharp reduction in visibility. At 8 am, Palam recorded visibility of just 50 metres amid dense fog and west-southwesterly winds blowing at 5 kmph, while Safdarjung reported visibility of 100 metres with calm winds. By 8.30 am, visibility improved marginally to 100 metres at Palam and 150 metres at Safdarjung.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) said Delhi’s minimum temperature dropped to 8.8°C, which is 1.3 degrees above normal. The maximum temperature is expected to remain around 23°C, with dense fog likely to persist during the day.
- PTC NEWS
