Delhi residents woke up to a freezing morning after the temperature fell to 8.3 degrees Celcius last night. As reported by news agency ANI, citing the India Meteorological Department (IMD), Friday night was the coldest of this winter.

“Last night was the coldest in Delhi with the temperature plummeting to 8.3 degrees Celsius. It was the coldest night of this season till now,” an IMD official said.

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On Friday, the maximum temperature in Delhi rose to 23.7 degrees Celsius but fell below 10 degrees during the night. The maximum temperature was slightly below this season’s average while the minimum temperature is normal for this time of year.

In Delhi, temperatures have dropped this week. On Thursday, the minimum temperature in Delhi fell to 8.4 degrees, the lowest temperature of the season until Friday night. This was a chilling week with back-to-back cold nights and dropping temperatures.

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Due to the air pollution crisis, the situation in the national capital is worrying. This morning, the air quality index (AQI) in Delhi was recorded at 302 in the ‘very poor’ category. Yesterday it was recorded at 314.

This morning, PM 10 was recorded at 217 in the ‘moderate’ category and PM 2.5 was recorded at 121 in the ‘very poor’ category. Air quality in the national capital has remained in the ‘poor’ category for the last three days.

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In other areas of the national capital region (NCR) such as Gurgaon, Greater Noida, Faridabad, Noida, and Ghaziabad air quality remained in the ‘poor’ category.

In October, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal released his 10-step master plan to control severe air pollution. The plan included providing alternatives to stubble burning, measures to control vehicular emission, and urging the government of neighbouring states to adopt similar steps.

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The Delhi government led by Arvind Kejriwal has formed a 16-member committee to evaluate the performance of the Connaught Place smog tower and mark air pollution hot spots through the Green Delhi app.

According to the IMD, Delhi will see shallow fog during the day and the maximum temperature could be around 24 degrees Celsius.