Mumbai weather update: With AQI at 293, city’s air quality drops to ‘poor’ category

The winter season is nearing an end, with the temperatures in Mumbai rising. But a rise in temperature is not the only change Mumbai has been experiencing for the last few days. Even the city’s air quality has undergone a drastic transformation—going from bad to worse.

On Thursday, the air quality in Mumbai deteriorated to ‘poor’ category from ‘moderate’ category. According to the System of Air Quality Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR), the air quality index (AQI) for all pollutants on Thursday was 293 (poor).

An AQI between zero and 50 is considered ‘good’, 51 and 100 ‘satisfactory’, 101 and 200 ‘moderate’, 201 and 300 ‘poor’, 301 and 400 ‘very poor’, and 401 and 500 ‘severe’.

Meanwhile, warm weather is spreading to several parts of the city. On Thursday, the Santacruz observatory in the western suburbs recorded a minimum temperature of 21.4 degrees Celsius, while the Colaba observatory recorded a minimum temperature of 23 degrees Celsius.

According to Mumbai’s IMD website, on Thursday, Santacruz and Colaba recorded high temperatures of 35.3 degrees Celsius and 33.4 degrees Celsius, respectively.

Besides Mumbai, the minimum temperatures also saw a slight rise in other parts of Maharashtra.