Delhi Shivers with Fog and Severe AQI: Cold Wave Grips Karnataka – Latest Weather Updates

Delhi Shivers with Fog and Severe AQI: As winter tightens its grip across India, several states are reeling under extreme cold wave conditions, with temperatures plummeting to freezing lows. Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Rajasthan, Punjab, Telangana, Odisha, and Delhi are the worst affected. Adding to the crisis, Delhi’s deteriorating Air Quality Index (AQI) has led to reimposing Stage IV of the Graded Response Action Plan (Grap) to counter severe pollution levels.

The overall AQI in Delhi at around 6 am on Thursday stood at 448, just two short of the severe-plus category. However, the AQI at 21 of the 37 monitoring stations in the city listed in the Sameer app, which provides hourly data on the National Air Quality Index, was at the severe-plus level.

Meanwhile, other parts of north India are also reeling under biting cold conditions, with temperatures in parts of Himachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir continuing to be below freezing point.

As per the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), an AQI between 0 and 50 is considered "good," 51-100 "satisfactory," 101-200 "moderate," 201-300 "poor," 301-400 "very poor," 401-450 "severe," and above 450 “severe plus.” In Uttar Pradesh's Ghaziabad, the overall AQI was 381, while the same in UP's Noida and Haryana's Gurugram stood at 364 and 376, respectively.

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The 21 of the 37 monitoring stations in Delhi that recorded severe-plus level AQI included: Wazirpur (482), Vivek Vihar (472)Rohini (477), Punjabi Bagh (475), Nehru Nagar (485), ITO (479), Jahangirpuri (476) and Anand Vihar (478).

To help vulnerable populations, night shelters have been set up in several locations, including Jama Masjid and Nizamuddin flyover. More temporary solutions like restrictions on vehicle emissions and construction activities have been implemented during peak pollution months, but the city needs sustained efforts to combat seasonal smog.

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Cold wave conditions are likely to persist over Bidar, Vijayapura, and Kalaburagi districts of Karnataka, with temperatures expected to be 2-4 degrees celsius "below normal" in the remaining districts of North Interior Karnataka for the next three days, IMD said on Wednesday. IMD has predicted cold wave conditions for Bidar, Vijayapura, and Kalaburagi districts. In the remaining districts of North Interior Karnataka, temperatures will be 2-4 degrees Celsius below normal.

Isolated places in interior Karnataka may experience shallow fog/mist until December 20, IMD said. For December 23-24, the IMD has predicted "light rain" at isolated places over Chikkaballapur, Kolar, Bengaluru Rural, Bengaluru Urban, Ramanagara, Chamarajanagara, and Mysuru districts.

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