Rain likely in Delhi, AQI deteriorates to 'severe': IMD

The national capital is likely to receive light rain or drizzle on Monday, while the air quality has deteriorated to the `severe` category, according to weather officials.

In its latest forecast, the India Meteorological Department`s (IMD) said that due to a Western Disturbance, "light to moderate scattered to fairly widespread rainfall/snowfall very likely over Western Himalayan Region till December 28; light rainfall at isolated to scattered places very likely over Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh and Delhi, Rajasthan till December 28 and scattered to fairly widespread over Uttar Pradesh during December 27 to 29".

According to the IMD, 1.4mm rainfall was recorded at Safdarjung between 5.30 p.m. to 8.30 p.m. on Sunday.

The maximum and minimum temperatures for Monday have been pegged at 21 and 10 degrees Celsius.

The relative humidity at 8.30 a.m. was recorded at 90 per cent.

Meanwhile, the national capital`s air quality has deteriorated to `severe` at 433 AQI.

The level of PM10 (442) and PM2.5 (283) pollutants in the air were recorded in the `severe` category, respectively.

"The air quality over Delhi-NCT is likely to improve and reach in the poor category on December 27. The rain on December 26 helped in significant improvement of air quality. The air quality is likely to remain in the poor to moderate category on December 28 and poor category on December 29," said the weather bulletin

The System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research`s (SAFAR) said that from Tuesday onwards, "slight improvement in air quality is likely due to relatively high wind speeds", adding that on Wednesday "significant improvement is expected due to high easterly winds at height of 700-800 m as well as at 10 m that results in strong ventilation of pollutants".

The air quality is likely to remain in the `poor` category for the subsequent five days.