New Delhi: Delhi and its neighbouring cities received light rain on Saturday evening, which improved the air quality to ‘poor’ on Sunday morning and provided some relief from the dense fog that was blanketing parts of the national capital region for the past few days.
Delhi on Saturday recorded a low of 7.7 degrees Celsius, while the maximum temperature settled at 17 degrees Celsius, three notches below the season’s average, as per the India Meteorological Department (IMD).
The thick layer of fog on Saturday led to the delay of at least 45 trains.
Cold wave conditions continue in other parts of north India, including Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir, with temperatures falling below freezing point.
Delhi and its neighbouring cities such as Ghaziabad and Noida received rain on Saturday evening.
The IMD has predicted a generally cloudy sky with light rain on Sunday.
On Saturday, Delhi-NCR woke up to dense fog in some areas, which led to 45 trains running late, however, flight operations at Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGI) remained mostly normal.
The Air Quality Index of Delhi, which was in the range of ‘severe’ to ‘very poor’ for the last few days, improved to the ‘poor’ category on Sunday morning.
As per Centre’s Sameer app, Delhi’s overall AQI at around 5 a.m. on Sunday stood at 285.
An AQI between 0 and 50 is considered “good,” 51-100 “satisfactory,” 101-200 “moderate,” 201-300 “poor,” 301-400 “very poor,” and 401-500 “severe”.
Cold wave continued in Himachal Pradesh, with the local meteorological department predicting moderate rain in low-lying plains and snow in isolated areas in middle and high hills, including Shimla and Manali, on Saturday and Sunday.
A fresh western disturbance is likely to affect northwest India from the night of January 14, 2025, the MeT said and also predicted light rain and snow in isolated places in middle and high hills on Thursday and Friday.
Talking about the anti-pollution measures in the national capital, currently GRAP I, II and III are in effect.
CAQM in compliance with Supreme Court’s earlier order, invoked actions under Stage III of GRAP on Thursday.
The centre’s air quality panel said, “The AQI of Delhi which was recorded as 297 on January 8, 2025, exhibited a sharp increasing trend and has been recorded as 357 at 4 p.m. on January 9 owing to calm winds and foggy conditions.”
CAQM added, “The Sub Committee on GRAP hereby decide to invoke all actions under StageIII (‘Severe’Air Quality of Delhi) of revised Schedule of GRAP, with immediate effect in right earnest by all the agencies concerned in Delhi-NCR, in addition to the Stage-l and II actions already in force.”
Furthermore, it advised all the agencies to keep strict vigil and intensify measures of the revised GRAP schedule to ensure that the AQI levels do not slip further. It assured that the sub-committee is closely monitoring the situation and will review the situation from time to time for further appropriate decisions depending upon the Air Quality in Delhi and the forecast made by IMD/IITM.