Delhi shivered under a spell of cold wave, while the air quality remained in the 'very poor' category on Friday. The minimum temperature dipped to 3.8 degrees Celsius in the early hours of Friday. The city was swept by a cold wave on Thursday as well and the temperature dropped sharply to 3.4 degrees Celsius from 8.4 degrees Celsius on Wednesday. Similar conditions are likely to persist for the next few days, the weather department has forecast.
The maximum temperature settled at 19.4 degrees Celsius, it said. In the plains, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) declares a cold wave if the minimum temperature dips to 4 degrees Celsius. A cold wave is also declared when the maximum temperature is 10 degrees Celsius and is 4.5 notches below normal.
Delhi had experienced cold wave conditions on December 20 and December 21 as well, when the minimum temperature settled at 3.2 degrees Celsius, the lowest so far this season, and 4 degrees Celsius respectively. The IMD has forecast cold wave to severe cold wave conditions in northwest India till January 3.
A "severe" cold wave is when the minimum temperature dips to 2 degrees Celsius or the departure from normal is more than 6.4 degrees Celsius. The city's air quality was in the "very poor" category as the Ministry of Earth Sciences' SAFAR system recorded an Air Quality Index (AQI) of 321 on Friday.
An AQI between zero and 50 is considered "good", 51 and 100 "satisfactory", 101 and 200 "moderate, 201 and 300 "poor", 301 and 400 "very poor", and 401 and 500 "severe". The city is expected to record minimum and maximum temperatures of 4 degrees Celsius and 20 degrees Celsius on Saturday, respectively.
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