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Delhi's air quality has remained very poor for the third consecutive day, with the 24-hour average Air Quality Index (AQI) touching 347 on Tuesday morning. This is a slight increase from Monday at 4:00pm, when it was recorded at 309. The city's early-warning system forecasts that conditions could deteriorate further due to an incoming western disturbance that would slow down wind speeds and cause stagnation. The Sameer app's (the Centre's official app) monitoring data showed that some key areas, including Burari Crossing and Vivek Vihar, recorded severe pollution levels with AQIs above 400 on Monday night. However, there were also gaps in data reporting at several stations. For instance, the ITO traffic junction station, which sees heavy vehicular traffic, showed an AQI of 188 (moderate) but had hours of unreported data. Meteorological conditions have also played a role in the current pollution levels, Mahesh Palawat of Skymet said. Winds that picked up speed of around 10km/hr and 15km/hr on Sunday and Monday helped disperse pollutants but are expected to slow down due to the western disturbance. This will lead to calm conditions on Tuesday and Wednesday, trapping pollutants and causing haze. Breathing in Delhi's polluted air is equivalent to smoking nearly eight cigarettes a day, according to a study titled Air Pollution and Cigarette Equivalence by the non-profit Berkley Earth. This far exceeds the World Health Organization's safe limit and increases the risk of strokes and lung problems. The pollution crisis isn't limited to Delhi; Ghaziabad and Noida are also facing similar conditions, with pollution levels worse than last year. Current temperatures for November have been warm, with a maximum of 31.5°C recorded on Monday (1° above normal), even though the minimum was 17.2°C (2° below normal). The maximum temperature is expected to be between 28 and 30 °C on Tuesday and Wednesday, with minima dropping below 15 °C from Thursday onwards as strong north-westerly winds return.
