NEW DELHI: Even as the city was engulfed in a blanket of smog a day after Diwali, the weather conditions seemed to be in its favour with winds gaining speed, which would likely flush out the pollutants over the next two days.
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Weather analysts said on Diwali night and on Friday there were calm winds with negligible speed, while the humidity oscillated between 69% and 98%. This kept excessive aerosols suspended in the air leading to consistent worsening of the air quality.
However, the winds were now expected to turn northwesterly and speedy, which would lead to better ventilation and there would be a slight improvement in the air quality on November 6, 7 and 8.
RK Jenamani, senior scientist, India Meteorological Department (IMD), said, “The air quality is set to improve as the speed of northwesterly winds will be 10-15 kmph on Saturday, which will help ventilate the area. The strong winds will stay for a few days and their speed is likely to reach 25-30 kmph.”
“There was an active western disturbance that was not withdrawing. The anti-cyclonic circulation over Haryana will soon fade away. This will pave the way for fresher and stronger winds from Saturday to Monday. Northwesterly winds are dry and cold, which may bring the humidity down and also reduce the temperature,” said Mahesh Palawat, vice-president, meteorology and climate change, Skymet.
According to System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR), the air quality may improve to “very poor” from “severe” category due to stronger winds, but relief from pollution was expected only by Sunday evening because of stubble burning. “Without any more firecracker emissions, AQI is likely to improve to the very poor category by tonight, although the stubble contribution is expected to remain almost the same,” added SAFAR.
On Friday, Delhi recorded a maximum temperature of 26.3 degrees Celsius, four notches below normal, and a minimum temperature of 15 degrees Celsius, the season’s average. “Saturday is likely to see moderate fog in the morning with strong surface winds of 23-25kmph during the day,” said an IMD official.
Meanwhile, a combination of pollutants and moisture led to moderate foggy conditions that brought visibility down to 200 metres in the city and at Palam to 350 metres on Friday morning. This was expected to end in the next two days. “Episodic fog often occurs during the last week of October and first week of November. Similar cases occurred in 2004, 2016, 2017, 2019 and 2020,” said Jenamani.
