Helping Delhi breath easey: Sign of things to come? Haze over Delhi, AQI ‘poor’

NEW DELHI: A haze hung over the city on Tuesday as Delhi's air quality deteriorated.
The average Air Quality Index (AQI) worsened to the higher end of ‘moderate' category at 197, according to Central Pollution Control Board's bulletin released at 4 pm. However, by 6 pm, the city's air quality entered the ‘poor' category with an AQI of 201, rising to 204 by 8 pm.
The last time Delhi recorded a ‘poor' air day was on June 12, when the AQI stood at 211. Since the arrival of the monsoon on June 28, the capital has experienced regular rain activity, keeping air quality in the ‘satisfactory' to ‘moderate' range. Rain helps wash out pollutants, but with no showers in the past five days, air quality has begun to decline again.
"Due to dry weather, local strong winds have lifted the dust. Besides, the mixing of westerly and easterly winds in the city has led to haziness," said Mahesh Palawat, vice-chairman at Skymet Meteorology.
Rain is expected to return to Delhi from Wednesday night. India Meteorological Department (IMD) forecasts light rain or thunderstorms on Thursday and Friday. Rain is predicted to be accompanied by gusty winds at speeds of 25-35 km/h.
"There is possibility of rain as a low-pressure area is expected to be formed over Maharashtra and Telangana under the influence of cyclonic circulation over the central Bay of Bengal. Even the monsoon trough is likely to shift and come close to Delhi-NCR. Intense rain activity is likely on Sept 27 and 28," added Palawat.
Delhiites experienced another sultry day on Tuesday, with maximum temperatures rising to 37.4 degrees Celsius, three notches above normal. This was the hottest day of the month, surpassing Monday's maximum temperature of 37 degrees Celsius. Relative humidity fluctuated between 53% and 92%. In Sept last year, the highest maximum temperature recorded was 40.1 degrees Celsius on Sept 5, according to IMD data.
The minimum temperature on Tuesday was 26.4 degrees Celsius, also three degrees above normal.
The maximum temperature is projected to dip to 34 degrees Celsius on Thursday and further to 31 degrees Celsius on Saturday.