Delhi weather: Mercury continues to rise; AQI ‘moderate’

The national capital continued to see a rise in the minimum temperature on Saturday, with the weather forecasts now suggesting that temperatures will rise over the next few days.

Safdarjung, the city’s base station, recorded a minimum temperature of 18.6 degrees Celsius, 2.4 degrees below normal but 2.3 degrees above the day before, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD).

Other weather stations also logged a significant rise in the minimum temperature.

Palam recorded a minimum of 19.5 degrees Celsius, 3.9 degrees above normal. Similarly, Lodhi Road recorded a minimum of 17.8 degrees Celsius, 2.6 degrees above normal.

Meanwhile, the IMD has forecast the minimum temperature to be around 19-21 degrees Celsius by Sunday. The maximum temperature is likely to be around 34-36 degrees on Saturday and 35-37 degrees Celsius on Sunday.

The Met department has also forecast gusty winds of speed 10-20 kmph, even reaching 30 kmph, to continue through the daytime hours of Saturday.

Meanwhile, the air quality index (AQI) of the city saw a further improvement on Saturday morning and was logged at 126 (moderate) at 9 am, as compared to the 24-hour average AQI of 151 (moderate) recorded at 4pm on Friday.

As per CPCB standards, an AQI of 0-50 is considered ‘good’, 51-100 ‘satisfactory’, 101-200 ‘moderate’, 201-300 ‘poor’, 301-400 ‘very poor’, and 401-500 ‘severe’.

The Air Quality Early Warning System (AQEWS) for Delhi has forecast the AQI to remain in the moderate category for the next few days.

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