Expert says Mumbai's air quality dips to very poor low wind speed to blame

Mumbai's overall air quality index (AQI) has yet again fallen to the Very Poor category along with a decline in minimum temperature.

According to a report of Indian Express, On Friday morning, the city recorded an AQI of 306, which is regarded as ‘Very Poor’. The System of Air Quality and Weather Forecast and Research (SAFAR) dashboard has also shown that several pockets of Mumbai are currently recording worse AQI.

Mumbai has been recording a minimum temperature below 20 degrees Celsius for the past two weeks with the figures hovering between 15 and 18 degrees Celsius.

The AQI levels have dropped due to low-wind speed. Last week, the overall wind speed paced up a bit which led to dispersion of air particulate matter from the lower atmosphere. Currently, the speed has slowed down due to which the pollutants are lingering in the lower atmosphere for longer hours, said Gufran Beig, senior scientist and project director at SAFAR.