A day after a minimal drop, the Air Quality Index (AQI) on Saturday again reached the ‘severe’ category with a combination of smog and fog enveloping the national capital, reducing the visibility to 200 meters in the morning.

According to the 4 pm bulletin of the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), the average air quality index (AQI) for the past 24-hours stood at 417, a jump of 21 points in contrast to Friday when the AQI came down to 396. However, a total of 30 stations out of total 40 stations recorded a ‘severe’ AQI with Shadipur 464, Jahangirpuri 458, Narela 457, Bawana 456, Wazirpur 452, Rohini 452, Anand Vihar 442, Ashok Vihar 455 and Mundka 451 among others. An AQI between 0-50 is considered good, 51-100 satisfactory, 101-200 Moderate, 201-300 Poor, 301-400 Very Poor, 401-500 Severe.

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The city also saw a dip of 0.3 points in the minimum temperature with a recorded 15.3 degree Celsius. The weather department said that the minimum temperature is likely to fall by 2-3°C over most places of northwest, central, east and west India during the next five days. Dense to very dense fog conditions likely to continue in early morning hours of Sunday over Punjab, Haryana, Delhi and northwest Rajasthan, it added.

Several places in northern India recorded a drop in visibility with Amritsar, Patiala and Karnal, recording ‘zero’ visibility while Delhi recorded a minimum visibility of 200 meters.