Delhi Air Pollution: There is some relief news for the people suffering from pollution in the country's capital Delhi. The air quality has improved a bit. People here got some relief from pollution for the third consecutive day and on Tuesday (3 December) the city's Air Quality Index (AQI) remained in the 'poor' category. Delhi's 24-hour average AQI was recorded at 268 at 4 pm, which is slightly better than Monday's 280.

Meanwhile, the Decision Support System (DSS), the primary tool used to assess and predict sources of pollution in Delhi, has not been updated since Friday. The latest data available on the DSS website is from November 26 to November 29 and does not include data from the last four days.

Technical glitch in the website 

Officials at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), which operates the DSS, admitted to the delay, citing website problems. "We are facing technical glitches in the website, but the DSS model is still running," a senior IITM official said. 

What was the AQI level at 37 monitoring stations?

He said, "We have been using the model continuously except on Monday, when we faced some problems. We are trying to solve this problem." Of the 37 monitoring stations in the city, five recorded air quality in the 'very poor' (between 300 and 400) category. While according to the SAMEER app, the air quality was recorded 'poor' at the remaining places. 

According to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), an AQI between zero and 50 is considered 'good', 51 and 100 'satisfactory', 101 and 200 'moderate', 201 and 300 'poor', 301 and 400 'very poor' and 401 and 500 'severe'. The Air Quality Early Warning System for Delhi found that the surface wind was light on Tuesday, with speeds of less than 16 kmph till evening. 

Delhi weather forecast?

On the other hand, according to the Meteorological Department, there is a possibility of mist and fog in the evening and night, the sky is expected to be mainly clear on Wednesday. According to the forecast, the main surface wind will blow from the northwest in the morning, with a speed of less than 10 km per hour. There is a possibility of mist and light fog in the morning, and in the afternoon the wind speed will gradually increase to 12-16 km per hour from the northwest.

The wind speed will again decrease to below 10 kmph in the evening and night. The air quality in Delhi is expected to remain in the "poor" category from Tuesday to Thursday. Meanwhile, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), it was sunny for Delhiites today and the day temperature was recorded at 28.2 degrees Celsius, which is 2.9 degrees Celsius above normal.

The minimum temperature in the city was recorded at 10.5 degrees Celsius, which is one degree above the season's average. The humidity level during the day remained between 96 percent and 62 percent. The Meteorological Department has predicted fog on Wednesday and the maximum and minimum temperatures will be around 26 degrees Celsius and 11 degrees Celsius respectively.