Visibility drops across city; six areas in ‘poor’ AQI zone, Sion with ‘cleanest’ air | Mumbai News

Mumbai: Residents across Mumbai woke up to a hazy skyline on Tuesday. While the city’s overall air quality index (AQI) fell in the moderate category at 172, six areas were in the ‘poor’ zone—Chakala-Andheri East reported the highest AQI at 255, Mazgaon 252, Powai 221, Borivali 219, Navy Nagar in Colaba 216, and Malad West 210.Sion was the cleanest pocket with an AQI of 67, placing it in the ‘satisfactory’ band. Of the 20 active monitoring stations, 13 recorded ‘moderate’ pollution levels. Weather expert Sunil Dahiya attributed the uneven pollution distribution to low wind speeds and altered wind movement caused by dense high-rises. “Because the wind speed is low, areas with high pollutants, like vehicular emissions, do not disperse. Also, wind movements are altered because of skyscrapers and tall buildings, leading to pockets with very high AQI.” While the city’s air quality saw marginal upticks over the last three days, the month logged deteriorating conditions. Nov began with satisfactory air, with AQI levels between 60 and 90, but as its end neared, the average air quality dropped significantly. Meanwhile, temperatures dropped slightly from the day before. IMD’s Santacruz observatory—the city’s benchmark—recorded a minimum of 21.9°C, nearly 2°C below normal, while the maximum touched 34°C. At the Colaba station, the minimum stood at 23.9°C, about 1.3° below normal, with a maximum of 33°C.