New Delhi, Dec 2 Delhi experienced poor visibility throughout Thursday with very light rainfall in the afternoon.
Palam IGI had reported visibility of 700-800m, in shallow fog in addition to smog, till 10 a.m. and then an improvement to 1,200m till 1 p.m. Thereafter, it was 500-800m in mist to light rainfall till evening.
Acoording to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), winds were calm in most parts of the day at some 5-10kmph for some time in the afternoon, whereas Safdarjung had visibility consistently poor at 600-800m due to mist, fog, and smog in the first half and then drizzle and mist, since 1 p.m. till 6.30 p.m. with winds almost clam or light winds of 5-7 kmph from 10 a.m. to 1.30 p.m.
The maximum temperature at Safdarjung, the city's main observatory, was 19.8 degrees Celsius, significantly lower than normal, due to cloudy skies and very light rains over Delhi. The temperature is five degrees Celsius below normal.
"It is not a cold day as conditions of cold day over a station in this plains as a second criteria needs to be fulfilled i.e.A its minimum temperature needs to be less than 10 degrees Celsius. But in last 24 hours, minimum actual temperature is 13.4 degrees Celsius and it is also four degress Celsius above normal," the observatory added.
In the morning, the IMD had forecast possibility of light rainfall over parts of Delhi, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, and Rajasthan.
At 5 p.m., IMD predicted very light to light intensity rain would occur over and adjoining areas of many places of Delhi, NCR in the next two hours.
The Weather Department has predicted similar drizzle for the next 2-3 days as well. Along with rain, the Delhi-NCR region will also witness low to moderate fog in the next six days.
However, despite a drizzle, Delhi-NCR's air quality continue to remain in the "very poor" category at 385. The national capital's AQI in the morning stood at 382.
The System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR) said: "The AQI today indicates 'very poor' air quality. For the next three days, winds are likely to be calm reducing ventilation leading to deterioration of air quality but within the same category. From December 6 onwards, winds are expected to increase dispersing pollutants but AQI likely to remain in 'very poor' category. Partly cloudy sky and low mixing layer height are preventing efficient dispersion of pollutants."
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