Slight rise in mercury in Delhi, strong winds forecast

New Delhi : The national capital saw a slight rise in the mercury on Saturday as the minimum temperature settled at 16.5 degrees Celsius, officials said. The temperature recorded was three notches above the season's average, MeT officials said.

The weatherman has forecast strong surface winds during day time and the maximum temperature is likely to hover around 30 degrees Celsius. On Friday, the mercury in Delhi had dipped to 14 degrees Celsius due to preceding rains.

The maximum temperatures had settled around 28 degrees Celsius, respectively. Delhi's air quality continued to be "very poor" on Saturday, although the contribution from stubble fires has been very less during the last couple of days.

According to Safar India, AQI in Delhi was recorded at 335 on Saturday, while PM 10 and PM 2.5 levels were "moderate" and "very poor", respectively. "AQI is likely to slightly improve and forecasted to be in the very poor to the higher end of the poor category for tomorrow," according to a forecast by Safar India.

The boundary layer winds are from the north and forecast to be coming from the northwest for the next three days. The effective biomass fire counts observed on November 8 were 415. It is significantly less than last year's same-day value and this year's peak. Stubble plume intrusion is expected to increase by Sunday, Safar India said in its bulletin.

Though the wind direction is going to be favourable for fire plume transport to the Delhi region, the wind speed is forecast to be on the higher side for the next three days, under the influence of the current Western disturbance, it said.