Delhi's air quality improves slightly; AQI at 305
What's the story
Delhi woke up to a thick layer of smog on Sunday as its Air Quality Index (AQI) settled at 305, still in the "very poor" category. However, this is a slight improvement from Saturday, when its average AQI was 330. The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) recorded Mundka with the highest AQI of 365 at 7:00am on Sunday. Out of Delhi's 39 monitoring stations, 26 recorded "very poor" air quality, while the remaining 13 were in the "poor" category.
Pollution hotspots
Areas with 'very poor' air quality in Delhi
Several areas in Delhi recorded "very poor" air quality, including RK Puram (326), Punjabi Bagh (320), Chandni Chowk (308), Rohini (341), Vivek Vihar (304), Bawana (352), Sirifort (318), Wazirpur (337), Anand Vihar (327) Ashok Vihar (325) and Sonia Vihar (320). The CPCB categorizes AQI levels from 0-50 as "good," 51-100 as "satisfactory," 101-200 as "moderate," 201-300 as "poor," 301-400 as "very poor," and above 400 as "severe."
Pollution sources
Major contributors to Delhi's air pollution
The Decision Support System for Delhi's air quality management has identified transport within the city as the biggest local contributor to pollution at 14.8%. Industries in and around Delhi followed at 7.3%, residential sources contributed 3.6%, and construction activities added another 2% to the pollution levels. Among neighboring National Capital Region (NCR) districts, Jhajjar and Rohtak contributed 13.9% and 5.2%, respectively, to Delhi's air pollution woes.
Weather forecast
Delhi weather update amid poor air quality
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted a minimum temperature of nine degrees Celsius and a maximum of 24 degrees Celsius for Sunday. The weather is expected to be partly cloudy with shallow fog in the morning. On Saturday, Delhi recorded a maximum temperature of 24.6 degrees Celsius, slightly below normal by 0.7 degrees, while the minimum was at six-point-eight degrees Celsius, which is two-point-seven degrees below normal levels.