The first spell of the December rains since 2014 in the Capital brought the much-needed respite to the people from the dangerous levels of air pollution on Tuesday. The light drizzle since Monday evening resulted in improved air quality according to the National Air Quality Index.
This was the first proper wet spell in the month of December for the past three years. The Capital did not get any rain in December in 2015 and ’16, while almost trace rain (0.1mm) was recorded last week (December 7).
The AQI at most places was hovering around 201-300 which falls in the ‘poor’ category. A day ago, city’s overall AQI was 361, which falls in the ‘very poor’ category.
Regional Weather Forecasting Centre officials said the wet spell was a result of an active western disturbance over Jammu and Kashmir that has brought snow in the hills and rain over large swathes of the northern plains.
“Due to the western disturbance, there was an induced cyclonic circulation over west Rajasthan. This moved eastwards on Monday and has brought rain to parts of Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Delhi and parts of NCR. A majority of the rain will take place overnight, with light rain expected in isolated parts on Tuesday morning as well,” Kuldeep Shrivastav, a scientist at RWFC, had said.