Cold start to New Year, rain likely this weekend: Met Dept

Moisture-laden winds are likely to bring heavy fog cover; Air Quality Index improves to ‘very poor’

It was a cold start to 2019 with the minimum temperature settling at 4 degrees Celsius, three notches below normal, on Tuesday.

The Meteorological Department has, however, forecast rain later in the week, which is expected to lead to an increase in the minimum temperature but a decrease in the maximum temperature. The moisture-laden winds are also likely to bring heavy fog cover.

“Mainly clear sky becoming partly cloudy on Friday with shallow to moderate fog in the morning and haze/smoke thereafter. Generally cloudy sky with very light rain/ thundershowers likely towards evening/night on Saturday,” read the forecast from the Met Department.

Moderate rain/ thundershowers is expected on January 6 and January 7 as well.

Maximum and minimum temperatures on Wednesday are likely to hover between 24 degrees Celsius and 6 degrees Celsius, respectively.

After staying in the severe level for the past few days, the Air Quality Index dropped to ‘very poor’ category on Tuesday.

Centre-run System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting, which had warned that fireworks and open fires would add to the pollution woes of the city, reported that no additional emissions were added during New Year’s eve celebrations and due to moderate wind speed during the day, pollutants were being dispersed.

According to the CPCB data, the overall AQI in the national capital was 393, which falls in the ‘very poor’ category. ‘Severe’ level of pollution was recorded in 16 areas, while 18 areas recorded ‘very poor’ AQI.