New Delhi: Parts of Delhi-NCR received light showers on Saturday evening, but experts said air pollution would remain as bad as it has been for the the past few days and that people would have to wait for five more days for good amount of rain.
“On Saturday, light rain was reported in Dwarka, Rohini, Noida and Lodhi Road areas,” Mahesh Palawat, Director of Skymet, told IANS.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) too confirmed drizzles in many areas.
However, both the agencies said the drizzles would not help in bringing down the alarming levels of pollution choking the National Capital Region for the past few days.
“These drizzles cannot dilute the pollutants. However, we are hoping that by November 7-8, the NCR could witness good amount of rain along with good wind speed facilitating respite from bad air,” Palawat added.
Favourable weather conditions, which are forecast, may cause a slow recovery in the Air Quality Index (AQI) in Delhi-NCR where health emergency has been declared because of severe pollution.
While AQI in Delhi is in the “severe plus” category, the highest grade of computation at 435, the US Embassy is denoting a sharp improvement in PM 2.5 levels compared to the peak values on Friday of 454.
On Saturday, the PM 2.5 count at 9 a.m. has halved at 208, according to US Embassy data.
According to the forecast by Safar India, the overall air quality of Delhi continues to be in the “severe plus” category. However, as the winds have become westerly from Saturday, the further intrusion will be less and that slow recovery is expected.