Delhi continued to grapple with poor air quality on Tuesday, with pollution levels staying in the ‘very poor’ category amid widespread dense fog across the city. As per official data, the AQI was at 385 at 6 am.
The city on Monday recorded an average AQI of 401 in a 24-hour period, which falls in the 'severe' category. Visibility also plummeted under a thick layer of fog, with general visibility reported as 350 metres at 6:30 am on Tuesday by the India Meteorological Department.
Fog alert issued across north India
The IMD had earlier issued a fog alert for the night of December 29 and the morning of December 30 over Dense to very dense fog conditions over Haryana, Chandigarh & Delhi, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, and parts of the Northeast, East and North India.
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On Tuesday, the weather department issued a ‘red alert’ in Delhi owing to dense fog. A nowcast warning from the Regional Meteorological Department reflected a mixed bag of alerts across Delhi, with a yellow alert for west, northwest and north Delhi, while an orange alert for south, northeast and central Delhi. The temperature reading stood at 10 degrees Celsius at 6:30 am.
Flight advisories amid low visibility
Travel advisories were issued by airlines over low visibility conditions. IndiGo Airlines warned of possible disruption in flights as it stated that visibility is going to reduce across Delhi, Chandigarh, Amritsar, Ranchi, Kolkata, among others.
A similar advisory was issued by Air India, which said flight schedules to and from Delhi and parts of northern India were likely to be affected. Delhi Airport had issued a warning on Monday over potential disruptions, though it said on Tuesday that flight operations were running smoothly as visibility improved.
But on Monday, the effect was more serious: more than 550 flights were delayed, and at least 130 were cancelled because of low visibility at Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport.
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Pollution trends remain worrying
IMD said that the fog intensity may reduce marginally on Tuesday, though dense fog is likely to persist during the early morning hours until January 1. The wind speed is likely to improve, it added.
Delhi’s air quality remained in the ‘severe’ category for the eighth consecutive day on Monday. The average AQI rose to 401 from 390 recorded on Sunday. With an average AQI of 349 so far, December is nearing the pollution levels last seen in 2018, when the monthly average stood at 360.
