Noida: The city recorded its coolest Oct morning on Monday, with the minimum temperature dropping to 16.2°C, a notch below normal, against 17°C a day earlier. The maximum temperature was 31.4°C, against 31.1°C a day earlier.“A fresh western disturbance is likely to affect northwest India from the night of Oct 27,” said an India Meteorological Department (IMD) bulletin. The weather department has forecast very light to light rain on Oct 29 and 30, with the possibility of a further drop in temperatures.According to IMD, the maximum and minimum temperatures on Tuesday are expected to hover around 30-32°C and 15-17°C, respectively.Meanwhile, air quality remained moderate, with an AQI reading of 157 at 4 pm against 131 on Sunday. The Sector 62 monitoring station, located near the NH-9 and Delhi-Meerut Expressway stretches, recorded an AQI of 234, categorised as “poor”.The average AQI at the Sector 1 station, which covers Phase-I industrial pockets and adjacent mixed residential-industrial zones, hovered around 138. At the Sector 125 station, which covers commercial and institutional zones along the Noida Expressway and the Yamuna bank, AQI was around 120. The Sector 116 station, which covers 7x and adjacent sectors, recorded 112.Greater Noida saw an AQI of 146 on Monday compared with 134 on Sunday. The Knowledge Park III station recorded 138 and the Knowledge Park V station 148.Ghaziabad’s AQI deteriorated from 125 to 142 in the past 24 hours but remained in the moderate category. Vasundhara recorded the worst AQI at 183 (moderate), while Sanjay Nagar recorded 117. Wave City recorded an AQI of 104, with carbon monoxide the predominant pollutant. The Govindpuram station recorded the best AQI at 61, in the “satisfactory” category.Delhi, meanwhile, recorded an AQI of 174 and Gurgaon 156.Road dust remains a major source, contributing 5-10% in the past few days. UPPCB regional officer (Ghaziabad) Ankit Singh blamed industrial emissions and garbage burning for higher PM2.5 levels.
