Foggy morning in Delhi, AQI improves to 'moderate'

Delhi residents on Thursday woke up to moderate fog, a day after the national capital received rainfall amid the biting winter, while the Air Quality Index (AQI) improved to the 'moderate' category at 286.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has pegged the maximum and minimum temperatures at 20 and 8 degrees Celsius, respectively.

As per the forecast, the maximum and minimum temperatures will continue to hover around 21 and 7 degrees Celsius, respectively, throughout this week.

Delhi received 10.6 mm rainfall on Tuesday with the Safdarjung Observatory recording 3.6 mm of rainfall between 11.30 a.m. to 5.30 p.m.

According to the IMD data, Palam recorded 1.0 mm rainfall, Lodi Road 4.4 mm, Ridge 0.6, Ayanagar 1.0.

On the air quality front, the level of PM10 (221) and PM2.5 (116) pollutants in the air were recorded in the 'moderate' and 'poor 'categories, respectively, according to the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR).

Light rain due to the western disturbance may improve the AQI further to the upper end of 'moderate' or lower end of 'poor', it added.

From Thursday to Saturday, winds are likely to be low reducing ventilation of pollutants and AQI is expected to be within the 'poor' category.

From January 2 onwards, an improvement in the AQI is likely due to relatively high winds, SAFAR added.