Taj Mahal loses its sheen in a blanket of smog as Agra AQI nears ‘severe' mark | Watch
Agra residents woke up to a blanket of smog covering the entire city as air quality worsened with AQI hitting 390. IMD issued a fog alert for 21 December while temperatures dipped to a minimum of 16.6 degrees Celsius on Saturday.
The iconic Taj Mahal on Sunday morning was lost its sheen behind a blanket of smog as ‘very poor’ AQI enveloped Agra. Visuals from the Taj View Point ADA showed smog shrouding the iconic monument with low visibility ranging between 50 and 200 metres.
According to Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) data at 7:00 AM, the overall Air Quality Index (AQI) of Agra stood at 390, just 11 points away from ‘severe’ category. However, several locations across the city reported AQI in 'severe' range.
Taj Mahal disappears as dense fog envelopes city
At 11:05 AM, the AQI improved as overall air quality stood at 174. A total of five out of six monitoring stations recorded air quality in ‘moderate’ range but at Sanjay Palace monitoring station the AQI stood at 221, falling in ‘poor’ range.
Agra weather today
While India Meteorological Department (IMD) warned of dense to very dense fog conditions in some parts of Uttar Pradesh during night and morning hours, Agra recorded 16.6 degrees Celsius minimum temperature on Saturday.
The minimum temperature on 21 December is expected to hover around 10 degrees Celsius while the maximum temperature will settle around 15 degrees Celsius.
Fog or mist is likely in the early morning until 24 December, IMD said. The weather agency had issued a red alert for Agra for Saturday. It downgraded the cold wave warning to yellow alert for Sunday. Predicting cold day conditions in East Uttar Pradesh, IMD issued an orange alert.
The maximum temperature recorded -4.5 departure from normal while the minimum was 2.2 higher than normal on 20 December.
IMD had issued a fog alert and in a post on X stated, “Dense to very dense fog is expected during overnight and early morning hours across several North & Central Indian states. Reduced visibility likely—travel with caution.”
IMD listed the following fog affected regions with specific dates:
- Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana: Till morning of 21 December
- Punjab and Haryana: 25 to 27 December
- West Uttar Pradesh: 26 to 27 December
- East Uttar Pradesh: 22, 26 and 27 December
- Jharkhand: 21 and 22 December
- Madhya Pradesh: Till morning of 21 December