Weather spares Delhi from becoming gas chamber, marks second cleanest post-Diwali air since 2015
By Sunita Iyer | First Published Nov 2, 2024, 7:57 AM ISTFavourable weather conditions shielded Delhiites from “severe” pollution levels a day after Diwali, despite widespread firecracker use and an uptick in stubble burning.
In a surprising reprieve, favourable weather conditions shielded Delhiites from “severe” pollution levels a day after Diwali, despite widespread firecracker use and an uptick in stubble burning, both of which pushed the city’s air quality into the upper bounds of the “very poor” category on Thursday night and Friday morning.
A combination of brisk winds reaching up to 16 km/h and above-normal temperatures helped mitigate the pollution, marking the second cleanest post-Diwali day since 2015.
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This year’s Diwali conditions showed improvement compared to severely polluted post-Diwali periods in 2020 and 2021. While the average air quality index (AQI) on Diwali day was 328, it spiked to 362 by Friday morning but later subsided to a daily average of 339, as natural ventilation helped dilute pollutants.
According to the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC), some areas of south Delhi experienced less cracker activity on Thursday, yet pollution remained high due to increased firecracker use across the rest of the city. The share of stubble burning in the city’s PM2.5 pollutant load also saw a significant jump, reaching 27.61% on Diwali day compared to 8.4% the previous day and just 1.8% on Tuesday.
"Even though the air quality on Diwali was in the very poor category — hitting severe levels during midnight — these conditions dissipated quickly the next day to reach moderate levels by the afternoon. This is mainly because of relatively warm conditions with reasonable wind speed and natural ventilation. The deep calm winter inversion conditions are yet to set in," Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director, Research and Advocacy at the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), was quoted as saying in a Times of India report.
"Despite this, the month of October has also seen more poor and very poor days than previous years, even when the contribution of farm fires has been just around 1-3%, indicating a very high impact of local and regional pollution,” Anumita added.
Early Friday morning brought hazy skies, but these cleared by noon as wind speeds rose, helping to ventilate the city. The India Meteorological Department reported that while wind speeds fell to 3-7 km/h toward midnight on Diwali, they picked up again the next morning, aiding in dispersing the pollution load.
However, environmental experts warn that while the capital experienced moderate relief on Friday, the rise in stubble burning incidents in neighboring Punjab is likely to exacerbate air quality issues in the coming days. Sunil Dahiya, founder of Envirocatalysts, highlighted the urgency of government intervention, as PM2.5 levels in some areas exceeded 30 times the national permissible limits.
Abhishek Kar, senior program lead at the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW), emphasized that this short-term improvement might not hold up as stubble burning continues.
"The air quality will remain an issue in the coming days due to an increase in stubble burning in the upwind states of Punjab and Haryana. According to the AQEWS, the AQI for the next seven days is expected to be consistently above 350 and will occasionally breach the 400- mark,” Kar told TOI.
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