Dust storm hits Delhi-NCR worsening air quality index

New Delhi: Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR) on Tuesday engulfed with a dust storm, which reduced visibility and worsened the air quality index.

According to the India Meteorological Department, (IMD) due to strong winds the visibility has reduced to 1,000 meters at IGI airport in the national capital.

The air quality index (AQI) at Pusa, Jawahar Lal Nehru Stadium, Patparganj, was measured at 999. Areas such as Mandir Marg (549), Satyawati College (792), R K Puram (872), PGDAV College (964), Anand Vihar (829), Sri Aurobindo Marg (643) also recorded worsened AQI levels.

As per the weather agency, the dust present over Delhi is due to the cyclonic circulation prevailing over Rajasthan. It said due to cyclonic circulation, dust storms and light rain activities happening in North Rajasthan and other parts of Northwest India.

The Weather agency said the impact of this activity can be seen over Delhi, Haryana and some parts of Punjab for next three to four days in phases.

“Strong dust-raising winds prevailed over Delhi in the early hours. The wind speed dropped from 30-35 kmph to 12 kmph by 9 am and will come down further during the day, allowing the dust to settle down,” Kuldeep Srivastava, the head of the IMD’s regional forecasting centre said.

Meanwhile, Delhiites are likely to witness some much-needed relief from hot weather as light rain or drizzle is expected at isolated places.

The maximum and minimum temperatures in the city are likely to hover around 41 and 26 degrees
Celsius, respectively.

On Monday, the national capital experienced slightly warmer weather with maximum temperatures hitting 41.3 degrees celsius, two degrees above normal for this time of the year.

On heatwave, IMD said the parts of Gangetic West Bengal, Coastal Andhra Pradesh, Yanam, and parts of Odisha are likely to experience heatwave conditions in the next two day.