Delhi air quality remains in 'severe' category with an overall AQI at 421

Delhi air quality of the national capital continued to be "severe" on Wednesday with an overall Air Quality Index (AQI) recorded at 421.

Already reeling under a cold wave since the beginning of the New Year, residents in the national capital on Wednesday woke up to another chilly and polluted morning.

According to the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR), the AQI recorded in the Lodhi Road area on Wednesday morning was 410. At Mathura Road, the AQI was 488 while at Pusa, it was recorded at 425. Air quality in Delhi University area was also in the "Severe" category with AQI at 410.

The AQI around Delhi airport was 434 on Wednesday morning.

Safdarjung base station in the national capital recorded a minimum temperature of 5.9 degrees Celsius this morning. According to India Meteorological Department (IMD), the visibility in the Palam area was recorded at 100 metres.

According to the weather forecaster IMD, Delhi experienced the third worst cold spell in the last 23 years and warned that from January 14 there will be a second spell of cold in the national capital.

Speaking to ANI, IMD scientist RK Jenamani said, "A cold spell means the number of days we experienced which is in the range of 5 to 6 days. A similar situation was there in the year 2006 when we had the lowest temperature of 1.9 degrees Celsius. In 2013 also, we had a similar cold spell, and January 3-9 was the third worst cold spell in the last 23 years."

IMD has also predicted rain, drizzle and snowfall on January 12, and a second spell of cold spell on January 14.

Jenamani said that there will be light rain or drizzle in states like Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, Western UP and North Rajasthan.

"For the Himalayan states like Jammu and Kashmir mainly Kashmir, we expect heavy rain or snow on January 12. We expect rain or snowfall in Himachal and Uttarakhand between January 11-14," he added.

Meanwhile, 10 flights scheduled to depart from Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGI), were delayed today because of reduced visibility due to fog, according to airport sources.Among the flight routes affected by the severe fog were Delhi-Shimla, Delhi-Kathmandu, Delhi-Chennai, Delhi-Jaisalmer, Delhi-Bareilly, Delhi-Mumbai, Delhi-Varanasi, Delhi-Srinagar, Delhi-Jaipur, and Delhi-Guwahati, the sources said.