Delhi Air Quality ‘Very Poor’ for Half of November

New Delhi: Delhi’s air quality remained ‘very poor’ for the first half of November, with no relief expected next week. On Friday, the 24 -hour average AQI was 369, slightly lower than Thursday’s 377, but continuing the 14 -day streak in the ‘very poor’ category. Dwarka Sector 8 recorded the city’s highest AQI at 414, according to the CPCB’s Sameer app. Several monitoring stations, including RK Puram, Punjabi Bagh, Nehru Nagar, Dwarka, Rohini, Jahangirpuri, and Mundka, reported AQI above 400, placing 18 out of 39 stations in the ‘severe’ range (401–500).

The Air Quality Early Warning System for Delhi predicts that poor air quality will persist in the coming week. Vehicular emissions contributed 18 per cent to Delhi’s pollution on Friday, while stubble burning accounted for 1.2 per cent; projections for Saturday show 18.4 per cent from vehicles and 1.7 per cent from stubble burning. Surrounding areas recorded lower contributions, with Sonipat at 8.7 per cent, Karnal 3.9 per cent, and Panipat 6.9 per cent.

Weather conditions remain cool and humid, with Friday’s maximum and minimum temperatures at 25.9 and 8.1 degrees Celsius, and relative humidity at 95 per cent in the morning and 67 per cent in the evening. The IMD forecasts fog on Saturday, with temperatures around 26 and 11 degrees Celsius.