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Can New Delhi’s polluted air reach Chennai? No, says IMD

With the poor air quality in Delhi and surrounding regions leading to a public health emergency, social media on Sunday was abuzz ... Read More
CHENNAI: With the poor air quality in Delhi and surrounding regions leading to a public health emergency, social media on Sunday was abuzz with discussions over the possibility of the polluted air in the national capital getting pushed down the east coast to Chennai by next week.


Weather blogger Pradeep John in his online post said most parts of Tamil Nadu could see hazy skies next week, as the break in monsoon could see the polluted air from north India drifting to the east coast. “The air quality index (Particulate Matter 2.5) in Delhi was over 500, which is over five times the moderate level. Next week, the air quality index for PM 2.5 in Tamil Nadu is expected to range from 200 to 300. Don’t be surprised to wake up to hazy skies in the coming week,” he said in a post, which also had NASA satellite images on aerosol optical thickness.


Even as netizens debated over the online post, IMD officials and experts said the drifting of Delhi’s polluted air to Chennai was not possible, as the city is currently receiving strong east-northeast winds.

“Delhi is far away. We are about 8 to 12 degree latitude and Delhi is about 30 degree latitude. Polluted air traveling all the way to Chennai is not possible. There are also hills in between and we are getting easterly-northeasterly winds. The polluted air in Delhi will have absolutely no impact on Chennai,” said S Balachandran, deputy director general, IMD.

“During northeast monsoon, Chennai has easterly, northeasterly and southeasterly winds. So if there is something wrong in the ocean, that air could get pushed towards Chennai. Also, during southwest monsoon, if Bengaluru has polluted air, there are chances of it drifting to Chennai due to the westerlies. Otherwise, the surface level air parcel moving from Delhi to Chennai is not possible during northeast monsoon,”said YEA Raj, former head of IMD, Chennai.
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