As temperature drops to 19 degrees C, Mumbai air yet again in poor category – The Indian Express

The day also saw the India Meteorological Department’s Santacruze observatory recording a minimum temperature of 19.6 degrees Celcius.

Throughout the first two weeks in December, Mumbai had recorded poor to very poor AQI, owing to low air speed. However, after December 16, the AQI had improved significantly.

On Friday, several pockets recorded very poor AQI. Mazagaon recorded the worst AQI of 344, followed by Andheri (324), BKC (308), Chembur (301), Malad (252), Colaba (208), Worli (190), Bhandup (183) and BKC (125).

“Earlier, the wind reversal in Mumbai used to happen within 3-4 days, while this year, we are witnessing the reversal after 12-15 days. Two weeks ago, when the wind speed improved, we saw the AQI getting better. Now the speed has reduced and the air particulate matters are staying suspended in the air for longer period, thus affecting the overall AQI,” said Dr Gufran Beig, senior scientist and project director of SAFAR.

“At present, there is no chance of the wind speed improving at least for the next one week,” he added.

Meteorologists said that the decline in night temperature is also one of the primary causes of poor AQI. They added that night temperature may fall further in the Christmas weekend. “Over the next one week, the minimum temperature may fall to 17 degrees Celsius. The day temperature may also record a marginal drop in December last week,” said Mahesh Palawat, meteorologist from Skymet Weathers Private Limited.