Winter has already made an entry in North India including the national capital Delhi. A nip in the air can be felt during early morning or late evening hours. The night temperature have also dropped forcing people to take out light woolens.
According to Skymet Meteorology Division in India, the minimum temperature in the city is settling between 16 and 17 degrees Celsius, while the maximum is recording in the lower thirties.
In addition, poor visibility due to fog and mist, a characteristic of the winter season, is also being observed on a frequent basis now. For example, the visibility on November 7 had dropped 400 meters early in the morning. It remained at 1000 meters throughout the day.
Low temperatures and nip in the air have kept the atmosphere stable, which is conducive for the settlement of suspended particles in the air. Therefore pollution levels are high for the past few days.
For instance the fine respirable particles (PM2.5) on November 8 was 242, which is way above the prescribed limit of 10.
And with Diwali approaching, the fine respirable particles are going to shoot even higher. Fire crackers are in fact the single largest factor responsible for high levels of air pollution in the country during Diwali. Crackers emit whole lot of toxic chemicals in the air, and if they are non-branded ones, not complying with government norms then the extent of pollution is very high. We all know how readily these non-branded fire crackers are available in the open market.
This year too Diwali is not going to be any different. The quantity of crackers expected to be burnt during Diwali is going to make Delhi’s air severely polluted.
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