New Delhi: The India Meteorological Department reported that strong winds blasted across Delhi early on Tuesday, causing dust to be raised, affecting the air quality and lowering visibility to 1,000 metres.
It has been extremely hot in northwest India for the previous five days, there hasn't been any rain, and there have been high winds that have been blowing since midnight, which have all contributed to the dusty conditions.
The wind speed was 30-35 kmph in the early hours. It will come down during the day, allowing the dust to settle down, Kuldeep Srivastava, the head of the IMD’s regional forecasting centre said, PTI reported.
“Dust concentration has gone up multiple times. The PM10 concentration rose from 140 micrograms per cubic metre at 4 am to 775 micrograms per cubic metre at 8 am. It is mainly because of strong gusty winds prevailing over the area. Dust will settle down soon,” said V K Soni, the head of the IMD’s Environment Monitoring and Research Centre.
Over the past four days, Delhi witnessed maximum temperatures soaring above the 40-degree Celsius mark, intensifying the hot weather conditions.
A partly cloudy sky and very light rain towards the evening may provide marginal relief, the IMD said.
The maximum temperature is predicted to rise to 44 degrees Celsius by Sunday.