Delhi's air turns dangerous: City tops global pollution charts this week
Delhiʼs air-quality hit severe levels with AQI reaching 418‚ making it temporarily worlds most-polluted city. Weather conditions and low winds created zero-visibility zones affecting daily life and air traffic
The air-quality in Delhi got real bad for the first-time this fall season‚ with pollution meters showing super-high numbers. The city beat out Lahore to get the not-so-nice top spot as earthʼs most-polluted place (according to IQ-Airʼs live tracking)
The govtʼs pollution-watch group says the cityʼs air-quality index hit 418: thats way above the ok-level of 50. The scary part is that tiny dust bits in the air (called PM2.5) got 120 times higher than what doctors say is safe. The weather didnt help either - with temps dropping to 17°C and almost no wind to blow the bad air away
- School shut-downs
- Building work stops
- Cars getting limited
- Shops closing early
The mess got so bad that you couldnt see anything in some places; making planes change their landing spots. The weather-folks say this thick fog-like stuff (that cuts view down to 50-200 meters) will hang around north-west India for a few more days
Its not just Delhi dealing with this mess - next door in Pakistanʼs Punjab theyʼre having the same trouble. Theyʼve put a stop to outside activities and made stores close up early to help deal with the problem. The whole thing is getting worse because of the mix of smoke fog and cold air that just sits there - trapping all the dust car smoke and farmerʼs burning stuff
