Delhi AQI remains ‘severe’ at 401 as rain fails to bring air pollution levels down
Hindustan TimesDelhi woke to 'severe' category air quality on Tuesday, with the overall Air Quality Index at 401 at around 7 am, a day after the city received light rain, which failed to bring the pollution levels down significantly. As per the Central Pollution Control Board, an AQI between 0 and 50 is considered "good," 51-100 "satisfactory," 101-200 "moderate," 201-300 "poor," 301-400 "very poor," 401-450 "severe," and above 450 “severe plus.” The AQI in all 36 monitoring stations listed under Centre's Sameer app, which provides hourly data on the National Air Quality Index, was under 450, while some were under 400 as well. Delhi weather Delhi and adjoining areas of Noida, Ghaziabad and Gurugram received light drizzle on Monday morning with the minimum temperature settling at 8.6 degrees Celsius, a notch below the seasonal average, according to the India Meteorological Department. Apart from Delhi, day temperatures dropped sharply in several areas of Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh after light rain hit parts of north India on Monday, even as intense cold wave conditions persisted in Kashmir with mercury dipping several degrees below freezing point.