Delhi woke up to yet another day of toxic air on Wednesday as the overall Air Quality Index (AQI) crossed a hazardous 445 (almost severe plus), landing in the ‘severe’ category. With a minimum temperature of 7.6 degree Celsius, dense fog enveloped the city, severely impacting visibility and making the already hazardous air quality even more dangerous. According to the Decision Support System for Air Quality Management, with 12.857 per cent transport sector is the key contributor to air pollution, followed by Industries (6.617 per cent), Road Constructions (1.85 per cent), Waste (1.23 per cent) and dust (0.913 per cent).

Delhi has been experiencing toxic air quality for the past few days due to drop in wind speeds, allowing local pollutants to concentrate in the atmosphere, according to experts. On Tuesday the city’s 24-hour average AQI was 433 at 4 pm, against 379 on Monday.

Of the 36 monitoring stations in the city, 32 recorded AQI in the ‘severe plus’ category, while the readings surpassing 480 at several locations, creating an extremely hazardous environment for residents. The remaining stations reported ‘severe’ air quality. The worst affected areas were Jahangirpuri (466), Anand Vihar (465) and Bawana (465). Severe AQI levels were also observed in key areas including Rohini (462), Lajpat Nagar (461), Ashok Vihar (456), and Punjabi Bagh (452), all of which reported readings over 400.  The pollution levels have spiked in the last few days due to low wind speeds which are not enough to clear the pollutants and low temperatures, with the minimum temperature remaining below 5 degrees Celsius for the past two days.

The last time the AQI exceeded this level was on November 19, when it reached 460.The air quality is expected to remain in the severe range on Thursday.  However, the meteorological department has issued a yellow alert for moderate to dense fog over the next three days. This spike in pollution is due to a significant drop in wind speed, which allowed local pollutants to concentrate in the atmosphere, trapping pollutants close to the ground.

The PM2.5 concentration is currently 59.1 times the World Health Organization (WHO) annual PM2.5 guideline value as top experts warn that India’s toxic air will have a bigger impact on public health than the Covid-19 pandemic. According to IQAir, a Swiss air quality index, pollution in parts of Delhi surpassed the 550 mark on Wednesday morning, far exceeding even the “hazardous” level of 300.  At 12.30 pm, IQAir real time data showed AQI stood at 890 at Vivek Vihar, 874 at Anand Vihar, 786 at ITO, 746 at Sonia Vihar, 707 at Burari Crossing, 702 at Punjabi Bagh, 680 at Rohini and 503 at DTU.

As visibility across the region was significantly reduced, low-visibility procedures were implemented at Delhi airport after visibility dropped to 50 meters at 6.30 am. Safdarjung airport recorded lowest visibility 50m during 6.30 am hours to 7 am, which improved thereafter becoming 100m at 7.30 am . Palam airport recorded lowest visibility 300 m between 6 am to 9.30 am which improved thereafter becoming 400m at 10 am.

The maximum temperature settled 23 degrees Celsius, slightly above the season’s average, but the evening felt colder than expected.  The minimum temperature earlier in the day was recorded at 7.6 degrees Celsius, a notch below the season’s normal.

Neighbouring regions in NCR also faced poor air quality, with AQI levels in Haryana’s Faridabad at 263, Gurugram at 392 and Uttar Pradesh’s Ghaziabad at 390, Greater Noida at 330, and Noida at 364. A cold wave has hit India, leaving several states grappling with extreme cold conditions as temperatures drop to freezing levels. Among the worst-affected regions are Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Rajasthan, Punjab, Telangana, Odisha and Haryana.