Delhi witnesses dense fog, visibility drops to 50 metres; air quality deteriorates to ‘very poor’ category

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Delhi on Friday witnessed foggy conditions that reduced visibility in parts of the city in the early hours of the day.

According to India Meteorological Department (IMD), visibility dropped to 50 metres at Delhi’s Palam area at 5:30 am.

“Dense/Very Dense Fog in isolated pockets in night/morning hours very likely over Western Himalayan region, Assam and Meghalaya and Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura on January 14 and 15; Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh and Delhi, north Rajasthan during next 2 days and over Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Sub-Himalayan West Bengal and Sikkim during next 5 days,” the IMD said on Friday.

Meanwhile, Delhi’s air quality deteriorated and it slipped from the ‘moderate’ category to ‘very poor’, with the city recording an overall Air Quality Index (AQI) at 312, according to the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR).

The air quality in the national capital was in the ‘satisfactory’ category continuously for three days from January 9 to January 11. It slipped to the ‘moderate’ category on January 12.

Meanwhile, the air quality in Noida and Gurugram is in the ‘poor’ category.

The AQI in Noida stands at 262, while Gurugram’s AQI is at 256.

As per the government agencies, an AQI between zero and 50 is considered ‘good’, 51 and 100 ‘satisfactory’, 101 and 200 ‘moderate’, 201 and 300 ‘poor’, 301 and 400 ‘very poor’, and 401 and 500 ‘severe’.