Delhi's Air Quality Slightly Improves

Due to light rain showers…

On Monday, Air quality in the National Capital and its suburbs marginally improved due to rain and favorable wind speed caused by a western disturbance affecting northwest India.

The Safdarjung Observatory, the national capital's primary weather station, recorded 7.2 mm of rainfall till 8.30 pm.

Due to the rain, the wind speed improved to 20 kilometers per hour, aiding the dispersion of pollutants, an official at the India Meteorological Department said. 

Delhi's air quality index (AQI) stood at 387 at 10 pm, improving from 395 at 4 pm and 400 at 9 am.

The air quality index (AQI) at a given time is the average of readings taken in the last 24 hours.

The 24-hour AQI, recorded at 4 pm on a daily basis, was 395 on Sunday, 389 on Saturday, 415 on Friday, 390 on Thursday, 394 on Wednesday, 365 on Tuesday, 348 on Monday, and 301 on November 19. 

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', 401 and 450 'severe', and above 450 'severe-plus'.  

Earlier in the day, a thick layer of smog blanketed Delhi, reducing visibility to just 600 meters at 8 am at the Safdarjung Observatory. The visibility was 800 meters at the Indira Gandhi International Airport.