Gurgaon: With an increase in wind speed, the citys air quality index (AQI) improved slightly on Wednesday, but remained in the poor category for the third consecutive day at 227. The AQI was 248 on Tuesday and 224 on Monday. No significant improvement is expected anytime soon. The wind speed was 10kmph on Wednesday, up from 5kmph on Tuesday.The Sector 51 station recorded the days worst AQI at 311 (very poor), while it was poor at Gwalpahari (241) and Teri Gram (227).Vikas Sadan witnessed moderate air at 150.According to the central governments System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (Safar), the air quality is likely to remain poor or very poor for the next six days. The predominant surface wind is likely to remain calm during the morning and night hours, and will come from the northwest with a speed of up to 12-16 kmph. There will also be shallow to moderate fog in the morning with mainly clear skies. The maximum mixing depth is likely to be between 800 m2/s and 1100 m2/s in the region, and the ventilation index is likely to be 1700 m2/s–6000 m2/s. A ventilation index lower than 6,000 m2/s with an average wind speed of less than 10 kmph is unfavourable for the dispersion of pollutants, it stated.The weather conditions are stable now, while the accumulated pollutants have flushed away. Local sources such as road dust and vehicular emission are contributing to the deteriorated air quality and in coming days, AQI will hover around poor and very poor, said Sachin Panwar, an independent air quality expert.Meanwhile, 10.3 degrees Celsius was the citys minimum temperature on Wednesday, the second lowest this season after 10.2 degrees Celsius recorded on November 23. The minimum temperature was 11.3 degrees Celsius the day before. On the other hand, the maximum temperature rose slightly to 24.5 degrees Celsius, as compared to 23.7 degrees Celsius on Tuesday.The weatherman said the mercury level is likely to fall gradually over the next three to four days. A gradual fall in the minimum temperature to 7-8 degrees during the next 3-4 days is expected due to the prevailing cold and dry north westerlies after the change in wind direction. So night and morning will be colder, while the days will be comfortable, said Mahesh Palawat, vice president of private weather forecaster Skymet Weather.According to the IMDs forecast, minimum and maximum temperatures are likely to hover around 10 and 23 degrees Celsius, with mainly clear skies on Thursday.

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