The air quality index (AQI) of the national Capital on Monday stood at 392 in the ‘very poor’ category.
“The AQI is expected to worsen in the coming days as the meteorological conditions are not favourable due to the low pressure winds and minimum temperature dipping in the city,” said the weatherman.
Low wind speed allowed pollutants to accumulate in the air and the situation might deteriorate to “severe” on Tuesday morning, said Mahesh Palawat, vice president (meteorology and climate change), Skymet Weather.
He said humidity may increase and the wind speed may reduce further from November 4 under the influence of a strong Western Disturbance leading to another episode of smog.
According to SAFAR, a forecasting agency under the Union Ministry of Earth Sciences, the share of farm fires in Delhi PM2.5 pollution stood at 22 per cent on Monday. It was 26 per cent on Sunday, the highest this year so far, and 21 per cent on Saturday.
Palwat said the transport-level wind direction and speed is favourable for transport of smoke from stubble burning.
According to an analysis by the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC), people in the capital breathe the worst air between November 1 and November 15 -- the period when stubble burning peaks.
The city records an average PM2.5 concentration of 285 micrograms per cubic metre from November 1 to November 15. PM 2.5 level from 61 to 120 is considered “moderate to poor”, 121 to 250 is “very poor”, 251 to 350 is “severe” and more than 350 is “severe plus”, as per analysis.
The Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) reported 2,131 farm fires in Punjab on Monday - the highest so far this season, 1,761 on Sunday, 1,898 on Saturday, 2,067 on Friday and 1,111 on Thursday. It logged 70 and 20 cases of stubble burning in Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, respectively, on Monday.
However, the adjoining states of the Capital, also recorded the AQI under the ‘very poor category’, with Noida (374), Ghaziabad (353), Faridabad (363), and Greater Noida (352), according to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) bulletin at 4 pm.
Out of the 35 stations of the Capital, 19 stations recorded the AQI in the ‘Severe’ category including Alipur, Anand Vihar, Ashok Vihar and Bawana while 16 stations recorded the AQI in the ‘Very poor’ category are Aya Nagar, CRRI Mathura Road, Dr. Karni Singh Shooting Range and IGI Airport.