‘Significant improvement in Mumbai’s air quality after Cyclone Nivar’: Researchers

After three days of poor air quality, an increase in wind speed and a rise in minimum temperature due to partly cloudy conditions led to a significant improvement in Mumbai’s air quality. The pollution index was at 123, falling under the moderate category.

The System of Air Quality Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR) and the India Meteorological Department (IMD), both said air quality improvement was an after effect of the remnants of Cyclone Nivar, which made landfall over the east coast as a very severe cyclonic storm north of Puducherry late on Wednesday and subsequently weakened and dissipated as it moved over peninsular India.

According to SAFAR, Mumbai’s AQI was 201 (poor) on Wednesday, 252 (poor) on Thursday and also the worst air quality in eight months, 218 (poor) on Friday. It dropped back to the moderate category on Saturday and is expected to be 120 (moderate) on Sunday.

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Gufran Beig, project director, SAFAR and scientist at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune, said, “Under the influence of the remnants of cyclone Nivar, winds over coastal and interior Maharashtra suddenly became fast between late Friday night and early Saturday morning which helped disperse pollutants that accumulated closer to the surface. A marginal rise in morning temperatures also helped reduce the carrying capacity of pollutants in Mumbai’s air.” Beig added that depending on the intensity of winds, the AQI was expected to fluctuate within the moderate category for the next three days.

Mazgaon (242) and Chembur (208) were the most polluted locations in the city on Saturday with poor air quality while Navi Mumbai (71) and Worli (88) had the cleanest air under ‘satisfactory’ category. According to the IMD, the minimum temperature in south Mumbai increased to 24 degrees Celsius, 2 degree Celsius above normal on Saturday while the suburbs recorded 23.2 degrees Celsius, an increase of 3.2 degrees Celsius since Friday.

“Mostly due to post-cyclone Nivar effect, almost the entire state was under cloud cover on Saturday as the remnants of the system pushed a lot of moisture, contributing to high clouds, which can lower the visibility, lead to some drizzle and lower temperatures too,” said KS Hosalikar, deputy director-general, western region, IMD. He said light drizzling was reported from Solapur and other areas in interior Maharashtra could witness drizzling as well.

Meanwhile, the maximum temperature in south Mumbai fell below the normal mark on Friday at 31.7 degrees Celsius, 1.3 degree Celsius below normal. The day temperature in the suburbs dropped from 34.4 degrees Celsius to 33.3 degrees Celsius which was close to normal. The weather bureau has predicted a partly cloudy sky for Sunday.

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