City’s AQI remains unhealthy

LAHORE:Air Quality Index (AQI) of the provincial metropolis remained unhealthy on Sunday while Met office predicted cold and dry weather during the next 24 hours.

Data collected from IQAir, the average AQI of the city was 178, which came in the category of ‘unhealthy’. It said the PM2.5 concentrations in Lahore was currently 18.8 times the WHO annual air quality guideline value.

The AQI of different city areas included Bedian Road (249), Polo Ground Cantt (227), WWF-Pakistan (198), Gulberg (189), University of Central Punjab (189), Ghazi Road Interchange (184), Lahore American School (180), Phase8-DHA (177), Valencia Town (170), US Consulate (168), Johar Town (168), Askari 10 (164) and Shahrah-e-Quaid-e-Azam (130).

Meanwhile, Met office said a westerly wave was present over western and upper parts of the country and likely to strengthen from tonight. They predicted that rain-wind/thunderstorm (snowfall over hills) was expected in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Gilgit Baltistan, Kashmir, north Balochistan, upper/central Punjab and Islamabad. Cold and dry weather was likely elsewhere in the country. Shallow fog (in patches) was likely in isolated plain areas of Punjab and upper Sindh during morning/night hours. Rainfall was recorded at various cities in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Sunday’s lowest minimum temperature was recorded at Leh where mercury dropped down to -09°C while in Lahore it was 11°C and maximum was 27°C.