Smoke cloaked the city as Delhi's air quality continued to deteriorate on Sunday, hit by a combination of cold weather and smoke drifting in from farm fires across neighbouring states.
At 4 pm, Delhi's 24-hour average Air Quality Index (AQI) stood at 371, slightly higher than Saturday's 366, both in the 'very poor' category, according to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).
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As per CPCB's classification, an AQI between 301 and 400 is deemed 'very poor', while readings above 400 fall in the 'severe' range, posing serious health risks, especially for children, the elderly, and those with respiratory conditions.
Among 39 active monitoring stations in the city, a few pollution hotspots breached the 'severe' mark. Punjabi Bagh recorded an AQI of 425, followed by Bawana (410) and Jahangirpuri (401). Three other stations -- Mundka, Nehru Nagar, and Wazirpur -- hovered at 400, according to CPCB's Sameer app.
With the city temperature dipping to 11.6 degree C, Particulate Matter (PM2.5) remained the dominant pollutant driving Delhi's worsening air.
The morning hours witnessed the season's worst air so far, with the AQI peaking at 391 around 8 am, just shy of the 'severe' threshold. Later in the day, wind speeds of up to 20 kmph helped disperse some of the trapped pollutants.
Contrary to the Decision Support System (DSS) forecast that estimated stubble burning to contribute nearly 30 per cent to Delhi's PM2.5 levels on Sunday, the actual share declined sharply to just 5.38 per cent, according to official data. The DSS team predicted that the contribution would further drop over the next three days before rising again to around 8.9 per cent on Tuesday.