Mercury to dip, dense fog to prevail, say weather experts

Dense fog is likely to prevail in the city on Sunday along with a dip in the minimum temperature, as per weather experts. The city recorded a minimum temperature of 14 degrees Celsius on Saturday while the maximum temperature stayed at 21 degrees. On Sunday, the minimum temperature is expected to settle at 11 degrees, as per the IMD’s weekly forecast.

Kuldeep Srivastava, head of IMD’s regional weather forecasting centre, said that the temperature would start dipping from Sunday onwards. “The temperature will fall marginally on Sunday and dip further next week. It can come down to eight degrees Celsius by next week. The air quality will also deteriorate with the dip in temperature,” said Srivastava. He added that dense fog was likely to prevail on Sunday during the morning hours. “A western disturbance has just passed due to which there is the availability of moisture and there are chances of dense fog. Visibility can go below 200 metres,” said Srivastava.

Air quality in the city remained in the “poor” category on Saturday, with 296 on the Central Pollution Control Board’s air quality index (AQI) bulletin. This was up from Friday’s reading of 256. Experts attributed the poor air quality to the accumulation of airborne pollutants.

Gurugram was the least polluted city in the National Capital Region (NCR) as the AQI in the neighbouring Delhi, Noida, and Ghaziabad stayed in the “very poor” and “severe” categories.

The level of ultra-fine particulate matter having a diameter of 2.5 microns or less (PM 2.5), the city’s primary pollutant was 210.35 micrograms per cubic metre (µg/m³) on Wednesday, as per the CPCB’s air quality monitor at Vikas Sadan in Sector 11.

According to the early air quality warning system for Delhi-NCR, the air quality is likely to improve but remain in the lower end of “very poor” to “poor” category on Sunday. The air quality is likely to remain in the “very poor” category next week as well.