NEW DELHI: Delhi’s air turned severe on Monday as the Air Quality Index touched 403, worse than Sunday’s 374 which was classified as ‘very poor’ on the CPCB’s index.According to System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research ( SAFAR ), the overall AQI touched the upper level of ‘very poor’ on Monday and in many locations, crossed to severe.“Values are likely to remain in same range until tomorrow, after which it is likely to decline. Calm surface winds are not allowing pollutants to disperse. The moderate fog is likely to bring down the inversion layer to keep both gaseous and particulate pollutants near the surface unless sufficient rain occurs. Only rain may bring respite by Wednesday. As stated that marginal shower often deteriorates the air quality because high moisture content overshadow the wash out effect,” said SAFAR in its daily pollution analysis.According to predictions for Tuesday, the AQI will remain ‘very poor’ and will not touch the ‘severe’ mark. “Levels of gaseous pollutants, NOX and CO continued to remain elevated (moderate range) due to the fall in boundary layer height and reduced vertical mixing, which will not improve due to rain being gaseous,” it said.Delhi’s minimum temperature on Monday was recorded at 7.6 degrees Celsius, while authorities forecast a maximum and minimum of around 23 and 9 degrees Celsius, respectively for Tuesday. “There will be shallow to moderate fog in the morning with a possibility of rain later,” said an official.At 7.6 degrees Celsius, Delhi had recorded its coldest day of the season so far on Saturday. “The rain needs to be sufficient if the pollution has to go down. If there is not enough rain, it will only increase the pollution levels as the moisture will aid in trapping pollutants,” a CPCB official said.

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