Air in North India turns 'poor' again as rains play truant, winds go slow

Plunge in AQI attributed to 'winter inversion', where cooler air is trapped under a warmer layer, creating an atmospheric blanket that traps pollutants closer to the Earth's surface

Air pollution remains high across Indo-Gangetic Plains despite stubble burning from the states of Punjab and Haryana having subsided.

According to meteorologists, the absence of winter rains is keeping pollution levels high across northern states, with the Air Quality Index (AQI) oscillating between ‘poor’ and ‘severe’.

Apart from the absolute absence of winter rains across the plains, a stable/slow wind pattern has added to the causes, experts said.

The reason for the high rates of pollution detected over North India has been identified as a phenomenon called 'winter inversion', where cooler air is trapped under a layer of warm air