WeatherFanatics: Unhealthy Air Pollution Remains in Northern India, Pakistan

Monday, December 22, 2014

Unhealthy Air Pollution Remains in Northern India, Pakistan

By Adam Douty, Meteorologist

December 22,2014; 8:54PM,EST

Pollution has combined with air stagnation across northern India and Pakistan to lead to extremely poor air quality during the past week. Without a significant change in the overall weather pattern, poor air quality and low visibility will remain into the start of the coming week.
Visibility from Islamabad, Pakistan, to New Delhi and Patna, India, has been reduced to less than a kilometer (0.6 of a mile) frequently during the past several days due to the pollution and fog. Visibility at New Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport dropped to zero on occasion over the weekend.
Smog is so prevalent it has also been keeping daytime temperatures cooler than normal across this region. High temperatures have averaged 3-7 degrees C (6-12 F) below normal during this stretch.

A pattern like this is not unheard of during this time of the year in northern India due to the combination of air pollution and a ridge of high pressure sitting across the country leading to air stagnation. As the jet stream continues to shift farther south later in the winter, frontal systems will help to clear the air eventually.
Due to the poor visibility, the India Meteorological Department has expanded upon dense fog warnings which now cover West and East Madhya Pradesh regions through Wednesday.
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Tuesday, an upper-level disturbance moving across northern India could bring enough mixing to the atmosphere to help clear the air somewhat, but poor air quality will likely still be a problem into the middle of the week.
A more potent upper-level system will track toward the region Thursday into Friday. This storm could potentially break up the low clouds and fog, as flow turns northwest allowing a fresh air mass to mix into northern India.
The core of the storm may pass north of the Himalayas which could in turn weaken the magnitude of the winds across northern India, but even in this scenario an increase in winds from the northwest would likely break up some of the low clouds and fog for a time.
In situations with poor air quality such as this, outdoor time should be limited by everyone and those with respiratory problems should avoid outdoor activities all together.
Meteorologist Eric Leister contributed to this story.

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