Delhi’s air in ‘very poor’ category

The air quality of Delhi, Gurugram, and Noida was in the “very poor” category on Tuesday, according to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) data.

The national capital’s air quality is expected to remain at the same level on Wednesday. “The AQI is likely to stay in the same category for tomorrow [Wednesday]. The AQI is forecasted to marginally improve and in the lower-end of the ‘very poor’ category on February 4 and 5,” said government-run monitoring agency, System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR).

The speed of surface-level winds was “low”, which aided in accumulation of pollutants near the surface. Also, the “mixing layer height”, which is the height from the ground level up to which pollutants can be dispersed, was “low”. This led to accumulation of pollutants near the surface.

The AQI of Delhi was 364 on Tuesday, as per CPCB’s 4 p.m. bulletin, which is an average of the past 24 hours. The values for Gurugram and Noida were 324 and 372. An AQI between 0 and 50 is considered “good”, 51 and 100 “satisfactory”, 101 and 200 “moderate”, 201 and 300 “poor”, 301 and 400 “very poor”, and 401 and 500 “severe”.