Many areas of Delhi received light to moderate showers throughout today as the western disturbance remained active over the city. This change in weather was also beneficial to the air quality of the city, raising the AQI to the moderate category by Saturday morning. The AQI elevated earlier in the week was 152 by 9 AM on Saturday, having been 372, which is very poor, the previous day at the same time. This has been buoyed by the rain that was accompanied by gusty winds of between 30-40 km/h, thereby washing away pollutants from the atmosphere.
For Saturday, the minimum temperature on Saturday morning increased from 11 degrees to 12.7 degrees Celsius. This temperature was 5.9°C above normal, which experts blame on cloud cover that constantly stagnated over the city. An official of the India Meteorological Department explained that the clouds block the heat from rising into the atmosphere during the night, hence the high minimum temperatures. But, it also hinders the sun from shining through during the day, so it does not reach the maximum temperatures.
It was seen from the IMD data that there was a good amount of rainfall in the past 2 days. Safdarjung received 5.8mm of rain until 8:30 AM on Saturday; some parts, including Safdarjung, recorded 11.1mm, Lodhi Road received 9.8mm, and Ayanagar and Ridge received 16.4 respectively. The IMD had first predicted an orange alert for the day, and after the cancellation, a yellow alert was issued for Sunday and Monday due to the chances of dense fog.
While the rain enhanced the air quality on Saturday the experts think the air quality will further enhance as the day progresses owing to the rains that are still ongoing and hence reducing the pollutants in the air. According to the forecasts, the weather conditions may cause the city to have temporary destruction.
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