This story is from March 21, 2012

Desert winds bring dust, haze to Delhi

Delhiites woke up to a dusty haze over the city on Tuesday, with southwesterly air currents carrying dust all the way from the deserts of North Africa and the Middle East, and reducing visibility to 1,000 metres.
Desert winds bring dust, haze to Delhi
NEW DELHI: Delhiites woke up to a dusty haze over the city on Tuesday, with southwesterly air currents carrying dust all the way from the deserts of North Africa and the Middle East, and reducing visibility to 1,000 metres.
Met officials said the haze would clear substantially on Wednesday as wind speed is expected to pick up over the next two days. Temperature, both maximum and minimum, is also likely to fall by 3-4 degrees.

Due to the cover of dust, the maximum temperature on Tuesday dropped slightly although the afternoon seemed to be very hot. B P Yadav, director IMD, said southwesterly winds had brought in dust to large parts of northwest India including Rajasthan, Gujarat, Haryana and Punjab.
“Such winds normally accompany a western disturbance which at present is located over the western Himalayan region. High temperature also favours haze formation as hot air tends to lift, spreading the dust in a larger area. Wind speeds over northwest India were not high which is why the dust settled over the region,” said B P Yadav, director IMD.
Yadav said the weather is expected to change from Wednesday with a change in the wind direction. “Stronger and cooler northerly winds will start blowing over the region . These will take away most of the dust and also bring down the temperature,” he said.
Met officials pointed out that the haze was due to a dust plume and was not a dust storm. “A dust storm is caused by winds blowing near the ground. The winds that have brought the dust are blowing 5.8 km above sea level . The large scale dust plume caused visibility to fall from 11.30am when it suddenly fell from 3,000m to 1,000m. Cities like Jaipur and Ludhiana had visibility of 500-800 m in the morning hours. While this phenomenon is normal, it has happened a little early this year,” said
R K Jenamani, director in charge, IGI Met.
On Tuesday, the maximum temperature came down from Monday’s 37 degrees to 34.5 degrees Celsius, five degrees above normal. The minimum temperature rose slightly under the influence of the haze to settle at 21 degrees Celsius, five degrees above normal.
The sudden change in weather and heavy presence of particulate matters in the air had people suffering from respiratory problems and allergies running for cover. Asthma patients, particularly children and the elderly, remained confined to their rooms.
“I could not breathe properly,” said Seema Sheokand, an asthma patient. She remained indoors mostly during the day and kept the inhaler and medicines handy in case of emergency.
“The pollutants in the air result in inflammation of airways, thereby, blocking it. Children and the elderly stand a high chance of suffering an asthma attack or a serious episode of bronchitis. One should be careful in such weather and always carry necessary medicines,” said a senior doctor.
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