AQI plunges to ‘poor’ category - The Hindu

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The air quality of Delhi, Gurugram, and Noida deteriorated to “poor” category on Thursday from “moderate” level, according to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) data.

“The AQI is likely to stay in the ‘poor’ to ‘moderate’ category for the next two days. ‘Moderate’ AQI is forecast for March 14,” said a statement by the government-run monitoring agency SAFAR (System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research).

The agency said that thunderstorms with gusty winds and local dust lifting are likely at isolated places on Thursday and Friday and an increase in wind speed and ventilation is expected on Friday.

The speed of surface-level winds was “moderate”, which led to lesser accumulation of pollutants near the surface.

The “mixing layer height”, which is the height from the ground level up to which pollutants can be dispersed, was also “moderate”. This led to lesser accumulation of pollutants near the surface.

The AQI of Delhi was 242 on Thursday, up from 175 on Wednesday, as per CPCB’s 4 p.m. bulletin. The values for Gurugram and Noida were 268 and 260.