Delhi’s air quality remains in severe category for five days in a row

Delhi Air Quality, Air Pollution level, forecast: Residents in Delhi woke up to surroundings engulfed in a thick blanket of toxic smog. The pollution meter shows that the national capital is battling air pollution menace as the Air Quality has deteriorated to ‘Severe’ category on Monday. The presence of PM 2.5 particles in the air has shot to more than 10 times worse than the prescribed safe limit by the World Health Organisation. In bad news for people in Delhi, the air quality index in the national capital would further slip on Tuesday, according to projections made by the Central government agency SAFAR-India.

On November 9, PM 10 is 425 which is categorized as ‘Very Poor’, and at the same time, PM 2.5 reads 263 which falls into the ‘Severe’ category. On November 10, while PM 10 will further deteriorate to 459 and will remain in the ‘Severe’ category, PM 2.5 will be 284 and ‘Severe’, according to details provided by System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR-India), Ministry of Earth Science. The WHO says the presence of PM2.5 particles in the air must not exceed beyond 25 per cubic metre. On Sunday, surface winds became calm and it was forecasted that winds would stay low in magnitude till Tuesday. Due to this, quick relief from the prevailing alarming situation is unlikely. However, air quality can improve if the number of fire counts or stubble burning incidents decreases. Incidents of stubble burning in Haryana, Punjab, Uttarakhand, and Uttar Pradesh were counted over 3700. The share of stubble burning in Delhi’s air was measured at 29 per cent. The wind direction remains Northwesterly, and this assists the fire-related intrusion to the national capital region, as per details provided by SAFAR-India.