The city woke up to the coldest day yet this winter on Friday with the minimum temperature dropping to 6.6 degrees Celsius (°C), down from 7.6 degrees recorded on Thursday, according to the India Meteorological Department data.
The maximum temperature stood at 23°C on Friday, a slight drop from the 23.4 degrees recorded on Thursday, the IMD data showed.
The minimum temperature in Gautam Budh Nagar started plunging on December 11, when it recorded a single digit minimum temperature of 8°C while the maximum was 24°C.
According to weather experts, Friday (December 15) saw a clear sky with northwesterly winds that led to a drop in the minimum temperature.
Weather experts apprehend that with the drop in temperature, the air quality levels, which have significantly improved in Noida and Greater Noida, but may slip back to ”very poor” category.
The air quality index (AQI) of Noida was 299 on Friday, up from Thursday’s reading of 282. The AQI of Greater Noida was 294 on Friday, as against 277 on Thursday, according to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).
The AQI levels are expected to rise further with the drop in both minimum and maximum temperatures. Local environment activist Vikrant Tongad said, “The cooler air tends to trap pollutants closer to the ground, leading to the formation of a dense and toxic smog layer in the atmosphere, which exacerbates air pollution and hence, it is likely that the AQI will increase with a dip in temperatures.”
Gautam Budh Nagar does not have an individual weather forecast office in the district. The Union government’s System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (Safar) issued a forecast on Friday stating, “The predominant surface wind is likely to be coming from northwest/west direction in Delhi and the National Capital Region with a wind speed of 4-8km/hour, partly cloudy sky becoming mainly clear sky toward afternoon and mist/shallow fog in the morning on December 16.” The agency forecast similar conditions on December 17 and 18 as well.
Gautam Budh Nagar district magistrate Manish Kumar Verma while holding a review meeting of the district environment, tree plantation and Ganga committee, recently had ordered the authorities to take necessary steps to ensure dust mitigation and launch a campaign to check violations of the graded response action plan (Grap 2).
Instructions had also been issued to officials to take steps for planting maximum saplings and ensure compliance of the orders of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) and the pollution control board norms.
Mahesh Palawat, vice president, climate and meteorology, Skymet Weather, said, “Friday (December 15) saw a clear sky with northwesterly winds which led to a drop in the minimum temperature. However, the temperatures are expected to rise due to an approaching western disturbance on Saturday.”