Delhi sees cold morning on 70th Republic Day as minimum temperature settles at six degrees Celsius

New Delhi: Delhiites braved cold weather conditions to throng to Rajpath to witness the 70th Republic Day celebrations as the minimum temperature settled at six degrees Celsius, three notches below the season’s average. [caption id=“attachment_5876511” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Reuters[/caption] The air quality is poor with an air quality index (AQI) of 229. Humidity was recorded at 100 percent. The maximum temperature is likely to settled around 19 degrees Celsius. According to a MeT department official, the temperature in the coming days is likely to dip and there is a possibility of the mercury dropping to four degrees Celsius around 28-29 January. On Friday, the minimum temperature settled at 10 degrees, Celsius while the maximum temperature settled at 18.6 degrees Celsius. Rains over the last few days have washed away big pollutants in the national capital, contributing to a slight improvement in its Air Quality Index, which reached “moderate” levels on Saturday. The respite will not likely to stay for a long time as air quality is expected to deteriorate slowly due to stable weather conditions where low wind speeds with cooler temperature play a dominant role. “The AQI is likely to deteriorate to poor for the next two days and may cross very poor by Monday possibility of moderate fog to continue,” stated SAFAR. On Saturday, the level of major pollutants in the air has improved significantly with particulate matter 10 (PM 10) plummeted to 118 from 154, while Particulate matter 2.5 (PM 2.5) recorded at 58 as compared to 93 recorded yesterday. In the coming few days, the pollutants level in the Delhi’s air is likely to escalate but will remain in “moderate” to “satisfactory” level. Temperatures in the various part of North India is also likely to drop in the coming days. “The cold to severe cold wave conditions at isolated pockets are also likely to re-appear over parts of northwest India towards the end of January. Above normal minimum temperatures are likely over parts of northeast India and south peninsula,” the IMD said in its weekly weather forecast. With inputs from agencies