From ‘satisfactory’ to ‘poor’, air quality slips in 48 hours

Noida: The region’s air quality deteriorated drastically over the past 48 hours, slipping from ‘satisfactory’ on Friday to ‘moderate’ on Saturday before plummeting to ‘poor’ across Noida and Ghaziabad on Sunday.Noida’s average air quality index (AQI) stood at 248, a sharp decline in quality from 106 the day before. Greater Noida and Ghaziabad followed this trend with AQI recorded at 228 and 227, against 120 and 110, respectively, on Saturday.Forecasts indicate that the air quality is slated to deteriorate further in the region as the mercury drops unless there is a fresh bout of northwesterly disruption in the weather system.Experts say ‘poor’ AQI conditions can cause breathing discomfort to people with lung diseases, asthma and heart diseases. Prolonged exposure to ‘very poor’ AQI can even lead to respiratory illness among healthy people.On Friday, some air quality monitoring stations in Noida and Ghaziabad recorded AQI in the ‘good’ range. By Sunday, however, some monitoring stations were starting to record air quality above the 300 mark – in the ‘very poor’ zone.Of the seven monitoring stations in Noida, Sector 39 and Sector 62, areas dominated by heavy traffic flow, recorded an AQI breaching the 300 mark. The remaining five areas had AQIs ranging from 200 to 269.In Greater Noida, the Knowledge Park III station was the only one that recorded a ‘moderate’ AQI, while the rest all recorded ‘poor’ air. In neighbouring Ghaziabad, two of the city’s eight stations – Loni and New Tehsil Loni – recorded ‘very poor’ AQI. Loni station’s AQI stood at 373 on Sunday, just 27 points under the ‘severe’ mark.Sunday morning saw the region packed with a steady fog, with dust pollution and vehicular emissions thick in the air.According to experts, following the massive unseasonal rainfall on Friday that acted as a natural scrubber, the cessation of rain and the transition to a clear sky on Sunday caused an immediate reversal in the region’s air quality.As daytime temperatures recovered to 29 degrees Celsius and wind speeds dropped below 15 kmph, the lower atmospheric boundary layer began to trap emissions once again. While the steady northwesterly winds helped prevent a catastrophic spike, the lack of active precipitation and the cooling evening temperatures (dropping to 18 degrees Celsius) reduced vertical mixing depth, allowing particulate matter to quickly accumulate and driving the regional AQI back up to the ‘poor’ category.With no immediate weather system in sight, the situation is likely to worsen in the days to come, forecasts showed.You Can Also Check: Gold Rate in Noida | Silver Rate in Noida | Bank Holidays in Noida | Public Holidays in Noida | Noida AQI | Weather in Noida | Petrol Price in Noida | Diesel Price in Noida | CNG Price in Noida | LPG Price in NoidaStay updated with the latest Noida news. Download the TOI App.