Delhi's AQI recorded marked improvement on Friday as the air quality improved to ‘satisfactory’ levels at IGI, Pusa, Lodhi Road and Mandir Marg following first rain of the year. The AQI returned to ‘201-300’ range after 10 days of toxic air.
The heavy rainfall on 23 January morning ended the prolonged dry spell. Delhi's average Air Quality Index (AQI) recorded a reading of 285 at 11:00 AM, according to Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) data. Out of 39 monitoring stations, 21 reported ‘poor’ AQI, 4 registered ‘moderate’ air quality and the rest 4 recorded ‘satisfactory’ levels. The change in weather came as a result of “intense western disturbance”, the India Meteorological Department said.
Delhi weather today
The weather office issued a nowcast orange alert for heavy rains valid till 1:13 PM. IMD's nowcast warning states, “Light to moderate *intermittent rainfall accompanied with Moderate thunderstorm and lightning (30-50 Km/h gusty winds)* is very likely to occur at most places of *delhi, NCR ( Loni Dehat, Hindon AF Station, Bahadurgarh, Ghaziabad, Indirapuram, Chhapraula, Noida, Dadri, Greater Noida, Faridabad, Ballabhgarh).”
IMD forecasted generally cloudy sky and predicted one or two spells of light rain in its latest weather forecast for 23 January. Predicting possibility of thunderstorm, lightning and gusty winds, it said, “Another spell of very light to light rain towards afternoon/evening. Shallow fog during morning hours.”
The weather office further noted that the maximum and minimum temperatures in the capital city are likely to be in the ranges of 18°C to 20°C and 11°C to 13°C respectively. According to Meteorological Department, the minimum temperature will be appreciably above normal by around 3.1 to 5 degrees Celsius while the maximum temperatures will be below normal by around 1.6 to 3 degrees Celsius.
Predicting downpour in neighbouring states, IMD in its 22 January press release stated, “Fairly widespread to widespread light to moderate rainfall over Punjab on 22nd & 23rd with isolated/scattered light to moderate rainfall over Haryana, Chandigarh & Delhi, West Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan on 22nd & 23rd and East Uttar Pradesh on 23rd & 24th January.”
Alerting about a fall in minimum temperatures by 5 to 6 degrees Celsius during the next 3 day, IMD said, “Thunderstorm activity accompanied with lightning & wind speed reaching 40-50 kmph gusting to 60 kmph likely over Jammu-Kashmir-Ladakh-Gilgit-Baltistan-Muzaffarabad, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and Rajasthan on 22nd and 23rd; Uttarakhand, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh on 23 January.”
On Thursday, most weather monitoring stations showed a significant rise in minimum temperature from the previous day. Delhi's primary weather station, Safdarjung, recorded a minimum temperature of 13.7 degrees Celsius; Palam logged 13 degrees Celsius; Lodi Road recorded 14.1 degrees Celsius; Ridge reported 13.7 degrees Celsius; while in Ayanagar the temperature stood at 14.2 degrees Celsius.
