Noida: Air quality in the city remained in the ‘poor’ category on Friday with an air quality index (AQI) of 257, as against 244, a day before.In neighbouring Ghaziabad, AQI worsened to ‘very poor’ at 303 from 272 in the ‘poor’ range the day before.As per forecasts from the India Meteorological Department, the region is likely to witness light rainfall accompanied by a thunderstorm today.While station-wise data on the Central Pollution Control Board portal was not available, the Sameer App showed that all four stations — Sector 1 (AQI 272), Sector 116 (AQI 262), Sector 62 (AQI 212) and Sector 125 (AQI 268) — recorded ‘poor’ air. In Greater Noida, Knowledge Park V recorded 284, while the Knowledge Park III station logged 208, both in the ‘poor’ category. In Ghaziabad, Loni recorded 336 and Indirapuram recorded 309, both in the ‘very poor’ category, and Vasundhara recorded 300 and Sanjay Nagar recorded 245, both in the ‘poor’ category.According to the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), surface winds on Friday came from the northwest direction, reaching up to 10 kmph during the afternoon hours. The wind speed decreased to less than 6 kmph during the evening and night.On Saturday, the city will record a partly cloudy sky in the morning and a generally cloudy sky towards the afternoon and evening. Isolated places might witness dense fog in the morning hours, with the possibility of a spell of very light rain accompanied by a thunderstorm and lightning.The maximum temperature was 20 degrees Celsius on Friday, while the minimum stood at 8 degrees.
