12 Kolkata: The ambient air quality of Kolkata showed significant improvement on Thursday, with Air Quality Index (AQI) levels dipping to ‘moderate' and even ‘satisfactory' in some areas, coinciding with a rise in mercury as the minimum temperature stood at 18.6°C.
Continuous Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Stations (CAAQMS) in Salt Lake, Jadavpur, and Rabindra Bharati University (BT Road) recorded satisfactoryAQI levels (51-100), while other stations reported moderate AQI levels (101-200).
Officials attributed the improvement to clearer skies and a sunny day, which helped disperse pollutants. The Met office predicted that the mercury would be slightly on the higher side for now with cyclone Fengal brewing over the Bay of Bengal. The cyclone would have no direct impact on the state, the weatherman said, while hinting at a faint change of light rain in the city on Saturday.