The air quality of Delhi, Gurugram, and Noida improved to the “moderate” category on Wednesday from “poor” level, due to the rainfall on Tuesday, according to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) data.
“Rain/thundershowers observed in and around Delhi have washed out suspended particulate matter and led to improved air quality. Surface winds are calm. The AQI is likely to marginally deteriorate to the moderate to ‘poor’ category on Thursday. An increase in wind speed and ventilation is expected on March 12 and is likely to improve to the ‘moderate’ category,” said a statement by the government-run monitoring agency SAFAR.
The agency said that isolated thunderstorms and local dust lifting are likely at isolated places on March 11 and 12.
The speed of surface-level winds was “moderate”, which led to lesser accumulation of pollutants near the surface.
Also, the “mixing layer height”, which is the height from the ground level up to which pollutants can be dispersed, was “moderate”. This led to lesser accumulation of pollutants near the surface.
The AQI of Delhi was 175 on Wednesday, as per CPCB’s 4 p.m. bulletin. The values for Gurugram and Noida were 122 and 152.
