Thick fog blankets city; air quality very poor

Delhi woke up to dense fog on Wednesday, with poor visibility disrupting movement of vehicles.

The minimum temperature at Safdarjung, the city’s base station, settled at 8.2 degrees Celsius, 0.2 notch below the season’s normal, according to data from the India Meteorological Department (IMD).

The IMD issued a yellow alert and forecasted dense fog during the morning and forenoon.

A yellow alert is an early warning signal showing that severe weather conditions are to be expected and may affect day-to-day activities.

Station-wise data showed the minimum temperature at Palam at 9.4 degrees Celsius, Lodhi Road at 8.3 degrees Celsius, Ridge at 9.2 degrees Celsius and Ayanagar at 8.6 degrees Celsius.

The city’s Air Quality Index (AQI) stood at 319 at 9 am, placing it in the ‘very poor’ category.

According to the CPCB, an AQI between zero and 50 is considered ‘good’, 51 to 100 ‘satisfactory’, 101 to 200 ‘moderate’, 201 to 300 ‘poor’, 301 to 400 ‘very poor’, and 401 to 500 ‘severe’.