Monsoon officially arrived in Delhi today with scattered rains and thunderstorms, bringing the mercury down. Besides Delhi, the Southwest Monsoon also advanced into Rajasthan, West Uttar Pradesh and Haryana, covering the entire country nine days ahead of its regular schedule of July 8.
IMD issues yellow alert: IMD issued a yellow alert for the day, forecasting a cloudy sky with moderate rain and thunderstorms. On Sunday, the national capital recorded a minimum temperature of 26.8°C, according to IMD. Air quality remained in the “satisfactory” category, with an AQI of 85, as per the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).
What’s behind ’s post-monsoon deaths?: A new international study has found that smoke from crop residue burning in Punjab and Haryana is responsible for nearly one-third of all PM2.5-related deaths in Delhi during the post-monsoon season. The smoke—transported over hundreds of kilometres—becomes the dominant share of organic aerosols, accounting for almost half of it during the worst post-monsoon haze episodes, even surpassing traffic or industrial pollution. Short-term exposure to PM2.5—tiny particles that can enter the lungs and bloodstream—was linked to about 6 per cent of all deaths annually in Delhi and Kanpur, the research found.