Strong winds clean up Gurugram’s air, AQI now ‘moderate’

The residents of Gurugram got to breathe “moderately” clean air on Wednesday as a continued western disturbance and isolated rain in a few parts of Haryana helped improve the air quality index (AQI) of the city from “poor” to “moderate” within 24 hours.

The 24-hour average AQI in Gurugram on Wednesday was 174, as per the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB)’s 4pm daily bulletin, in comparison to Tuesday’s reading of 287.

At 6pm, the AQI reading at Gwal Pahari monitor had reached 143 while the one at Sector 51 was 179. The AQI reading at Teri Gram was 200, and the reading at Vikas Sadan monitor was 135, state pollution control board officials said.

In comparison to Gurugram, Delhi’s AQI was 260, Faridabad’s was 248, and Ghaziabad was 246, all in “poor” category, while Noida’s reading was 186, which was in the ”moderate” category on Wednesday.

An AQI between zero and 50 is classified as “good”, 51 and 100 is “satisfactory”, 101 and 200 “moderate”, 201 and 300 “poor”, 301 and 400 “very poor”, and 401 and 500 is “severe”, as per the CPCB.

VK Soni, head of the environment monitoring and research centre at India Meteorological Department (IMD), said the AQI situation would continue to improve in Gurugram till November 12.

“South-easterly winds and isolated rainfall activities across southern Haryana on Tuesday resulted in improved AQI,” he said.

“The south-easterly winds blew strongly on Tuesday night with the average wind speed reaching up to 18 kilometres per hour and helped disperse the pollutants in the air,” he said.

Soni said the wind speed during daytime on Wednesday was around eight kilometres per hour.

“There is a probability of further improvement in the AQI. It is expected to remain in “moderate” category in Gurugram till November 16. Afterwards, we may observe some deterioration in air quality. However, this is only an outlook or probability and the actual scenario may differ for which a four-day forecast would be made,” he said, adding that the decrease in wind speed and change in wind direction would be the contributing factors in deteriorating AQI.

Soni said since the current wind direction is south-easterly, the contribution of stubble burning to the city’s pollution is minimal. “Whatever pollutants are there in the air right now, is from local sources,” he said.

Manmohan Singh, director of IMD Chandigarh, said the western disturbance is over northern Pakistan and there was induced cyclonic circulation over south Rajasthan which ended on Tuesday.

“The wind would follow a circulatory pattern for the next couple of days due to the western disturbance which would result in an improved AQI,” he said.

Singh said isolated rain has been forecast till Thursday morning after which the weather would remain clear.

“Till the time there is a western disturbance, the AQI will keep improving,” Singh added.

Meanwhile, IMD predicted dense fog in the morning for southern Haryana till Thursday.

The maximum temperature in Gurugram on Wednesday was 29.7 degrees Celsius while the minimum was 16.2 degrees Celsius. A rainfall of 13mm was recorded in Gurugram from 8.30am to 5.30pm on Wednesday.