Delhi’s air quality is expected to deteriorate to “poor” category on Thursday and is likely to get worse on Friday, the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) said on Wednesday.
The rain that lashed the city on Wednesday brought down the pollution levels. The Air Quality Index was recorded at 186, according to the bulletin released by the CPCB at 4 p.m.
On Friday, the Capital will feel the affects of stubble burning in Punjab and Haryana, but the impact will be less compared to winter, said the CPCB.
“The affects of stubble burning will be less as there is a higher wind speed and higher mixing depth of pollutants during summer, which will lead to pollutants getting dispersed easily,” an official from the India Meteorological Department said.
“By Friday, upper winds are likely to be favourable to bring some impact of stubble burning from north India, which are at its peak as per the fire counts. However, unlike winter, ventilation coefficient is high enough to disperse the pollutants quickly,” a forecast by System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR) said.
The official said that the AQI in the Capital during May-June generally falls in the “moderate” and “poor” categories and may at times slip to “very poor”, but it hardly ever reaches the “severe” category.
The levels of PM2.5, which was “severe” in Anand Vihar around 4 a.m. on Wednesday, with a reading of 462 ug/m3, dropped to “satisfactory” with a reading of 77 ug/m3 by 7 p.m., mainly due to the rain.
