New Delhi, Oct 19 (IANS): The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecast 'mainly clear sky' in the national capital on Tuesday, with the maximum temperature likely to hover around 29 degrees Celsius and the minimum at 19.9 degrees Celsius.

As per the morning update, a temperature of 22.4 degrees Celsius was recorded at 8.30 a.m. with a relative humidity of 91 per cent. The wind was blowing in the southwest direction at a speed of 12.9 km per hour.

The city observed sunrise at 6.25 a.m. and the sun is likely to set at 5.48 p.m.

In the past 24 hours, the maximum temperature was recorded at 23.9 degrees Celsius, nine notches departure from normal, and the minimum was at 19.9 degrees Celsius. The city witnessed heavy rainfall on Monday that plummeted the temperature.

According to the IMD, the national capital has received 94.6 mm of rain in October so far the highest in 65 years, when 236.2 mm of rain was received in the whole month in 1956. The 24-hour accumulated rainfall is also the highest since then.

System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR) said Delhi-NCR's Air Quality Index (AQI) improved to "good" towards Monday evening with PM 2.5 pollutant recorded at 43 and PM 10 at 25.

Usually, the air quality is categorised as "good" when AQI is between 0 to 50, "satisfactory" between 51-100, "moderate" between 101-200, "poor" between 201-300, "very poor" between 301-400, "severe" between 401-500, or "hazardous" at 500+.

Delhi, generally, has good to satisfactory air quality. However, the pollution levels during October to February due to various factors including stubble burning, road dust, vehicle pollution, and cold weather lead to a deterioration in the AQI.

Notably, Delhi has 36 monitoring stations that accurately record the levels of both particulate matters. As per the latest update at 9.45 a.m., the other pollutants Nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and ozone (O3) were recorded at 12 and 76, respectively. The data for carbon monoxide (CO) was not available.