Noida: The air quality remained in the ‘severe’ category for the second day in a row on Monday, after the region recorded four days of ‘very poor’ air. Visibility also remained poor during the morning hours, dropping as low as 200m in parts of the city.Noida logged an AQI of 412 against Sunday’s 430, while Ghaziabad’s AQI shifted to 425 from 458. In Greater Noida, the AQI shifted back to ‘very poor’ at 375 from 402 the day before. All three cities have primarily recorded AQI ranging between ‘poor’ and ‘very poor’ this month.Delhi’s AQI was 410, marginally lower than Sunday’s 440. Data shows that the capital is witnessing its worst Jan air quality spell in five years. On Saturday, AQI had crossed 400 by 6 pm, prompting the CAQM to enforce GRAP Stage-IV measures. The last time Delhi saw a three-day severe pollution spell in Jan was in 2021 — from Jan 14-16.According to data from the Central Pollution Control Board portal, Noida’s Sector 1 (AQI 438) and Sector 116 (AQI 415) air monitoring stations both recorded ‘severe’ air on Monday, while Sector 62 (AQI 383) was in the ‘very poor’ range. Data from Sector 125 station was not available. In Greater Noida, Knowledge Park V (AQI 400) and Knowledge Park III (AQI 399) recorded air quality in the ‘very poor’ category. In Ghaziabad, Loni (AQI 454), Indirapuram (AQI 433) and Vasundhara (AQI 427) all recorded ‘severe’ air quality, while the Sanjay Nagar station fell in the ‘very poor’ range at 370.Forecasts suggest a gradual improvement in air quality. The Centre’s Air Quality Early Warning System (EWS) projects AQI could shift to ‘very poor’ on Tuesday. According to the IITM, on Tuesday, the city will record a partly cloudy sky with shallow to moderate fog during the morning hours. The predominant surface wind is likely to be from the northwest, with wind speed reaching up to 10 kmph during the morning hours. Wind speed will then increase up to 15 kmph in the afternoon hours and then decrease to 8 kmph during the evening and night.Weather conditions may offer some relief. Monday saw moderate fog and a temperature rise. Maximum was 26.7°C and minimum 7.7 degrees Celsius. Delhi could get rain around Jan 23, , which could help disperse pollutants.
