Season's lowest: Gurgaon at 8.3°C, Delhi 6.5°C; winds to add to chill

GURGAON: The city recorded the season's coldest night on Monday with the minimum temperature at 8.3 degrees Celsius against Sunday's 9.2 degrees Celsius. The maximum temperature was recorded at 24 degrees Celsius.
Hisar recorded the lowest temperature in the state on Monday, at 5.6 degrees Celsius.
According to India Meteorological Department (IMD), a western disturbance is affecting the western Himalayan region from Monday, which will further bring in cold air from snow-clad mountains.
"The temperature is likely to drop by two to three degrees in the coming days because of the western disturbance. The weather will be dry during this period in the state," an IMD official said.
The city's air quality index (AQI) on Monday remained 'poor' at 260, compared to 229 on Sunday. Sector 51 station recorded the highest AQI at 278, followed by Teri Gram (277), Vikas Sadan (252) and Gwalpahari (234) on Monday. The wind speed was 5kmph on Monday, down from 11kmph on Sunday, which trapped the pollutants and led to slow dispersion.
The air quality is likely to deteriorate in the coming days. With a dip in the temperature and lower wind speed, the AQI is likely to go down to the very poor category.
According to officials of the central government's System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR), "The predominant surface wind is likely to be calm in the morning and will come from the northwest with a speed of 6-10kmph. The city will witness mainly clear sky and shallow to moderate fog in the morning till Dec 13."
"The weather conditions will be highly unfavourable for dispersion of pollutants in the next six days. The air quality is likely to be in the very poor category," the SAFAR report stated.
The PM2.5 level was highest at Sector 51 (267g/m³) on Monday, followed by Teri Gram (250g/m³), Vikas Sadan (245g/m³) and Gwalpahari (232g/m³). The PM10 level was also highest at Sector 51 (272g/m³), followed by Teri Gram (259g/m³) and Gwalpahari (241g/m³). Vikas Sadan doesn't record PM10 data.
According to the CPCB, the annual average permissible limits for PM2.5 and PM10 are 60g/m³ and 100g/m³, respectively.
Delhi, meanwhile, recorded an AQI of 317, followed by Noida (288), Faridabad (269) and Ghaziabad (252).
The capital too reported the season's lowest minimum temperature on Monday as the mercury dipped to 6.5 degrees Celsius, three notches below normal. The minimum on Sunday was 8.3 degrees Celsius. The maximum temperature increased slightly to 24.8 degrees Celsius on Monday, when the season's normal is 23.4 degrees Celsius.