Delhi air quality in ‘severe’ category

New Delhi: The air quality in the national capital once again turned ‘very poor’ and the air quality index (AQI) was recorded at 372, inching closer to ‘severe’ category.

The concentration of ultrafine pollutants in Delhi’s air was also high — Particulate Matter (PM) 10 and PM 2.5 at 328 and 205 microgramme per cubic metre (ug/m3), respectively — much above their prescribed safe limits of 100 and 60 ug/m3.

The AQI was recorded at 372, which falls in the ‘very poor’ category. It was dangerously close to the 400 mark, which is under the ‘severe’ category.

The air quality had plunged to dangerous levels on Thursday, after a gap of more than a month.

Meanwhile, a thick blanket of haze engulfed the city in the morning hours  on Monday with the minimum temperature going till 7 degrees Celsius, one notch below normal for this part of the season.

Due to poor visibility, around 17 trains were cancelled, while several others arrived late. According to a Northern Railway spokesperson, at 6 am, 17 trains were cancelled, while 26 were delayed and six others were rescheduled due to poor visibility.

An official of the Meteorological department said that at 8.30am, the visibility recorded was 400 metres at Safdarjung Observatory. The humidity oscillated between 96 and 54 per cent.

The weather, however, started getting warmer during the afternoon with the maximum temperature settling at 22.8 degrees Celsius, one degree above normal.

According to the forecast, the city will see a shallow fog on Tuesday and Wednesday, followed by dense fog in the city on Thursday.

The minimum and maximum temperatures are likely to hover around 23 degrees Celsius and 7 degrees Celsius, respectively on Tuesday.