New Delhi, Oct 31 The national capital’s minimum temperature decreased further, and shallow fog enveloped the city on Saturday morning, with the India Meteorological Department (IMD) forecasting partly cloudy skies for the next few days.
The maximum temperature increased, a day after rain lashed several parts of the city.
Safdarjung, Delhi’s base weather station, recorded a minimum temperature of 16.2 degrees Celsius, 0.1 degree above normal and a one-degree drop from the previous day. The station recorded a maximum of 27.9 degrees Celsius, 3.1 degrees below normal and 7.2 degrees higher than Friday.
Other weather stations also recorded a lower minimum temperature and a similarly sharp increase in the maximum temperature. Palam recorded a minimum temperature of 15.5 degrees Celsius, 1.5 degrees lower than normal and 0.1 degrees lower than the day before; Lodhi Road recorded a minimum of 16.2 degrees Celsius; Ayanagar recorded a minimum of 16.7 degrees.
The maximum at Palam on Saturday was 26 degrees Celsius, 5.5 degrees higher than the day before; Lodhi Road recorded a maximum of 27.8 degrees Celsius, a 7.2-degrees increase. While no significant rain was recorded on Saturday, parts of the city experienced shallow fog in the early hours.
Safdarjung recorded a shallow fog around 6:30 am, with visibility of 500 m, according to IMD. At the same time, Palam recorded visibility of 800 m.
IMD classifies visibility of 500-999 m as shallow fog, 200-499 m as moderate fog, 199-50 m as dense fog and lower than 50 m as very dense fog. “Partly cloudy skies persisted throughout Saturday. Mostly clear skies are expected to persist for the next few days,” an IMD official said.
According to IMD forecast, the maximum temperature is likely to be around 28-30 degrees Celsius on Sunday. The minimum temperature is likely to be around 16-18 degrees Celsius on Sunday.
The city’s air quality index (AQI) deteriorated to the moderate category on Saturday. The 24-hour average AQI was 117 (moderate) at 4 pm, compared with 60 (satisfactory) at the same time on Friday, data from the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) said.
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’.
(PTI News)
