Why do Pollution levels Skyrocket in October each year?

Delhi’s air quality index in the first two weeks of October was worse than in the same period in 2018 and 2019, according to CPCB data.

The average AQI for Delhi from October 1 to 14 was 212 (poor), a significant rise from last year’s 159 (moderate) in the same fortnight and 207 (poor) in 2018.

As reported by Indian Express, October usually marks the withdrawal of monsoons in Northwest India. During monsoons, the prevalent direction of wind is easterly.

These winds, which travel from over the Bay of Bengal, carry moisture and bring rains to this part of the country. Once monsoon withdraws, the predominant direction of winds changes to north westerly

The report further states that during summers, too, the direction of wind is north westerly and storms carrying dust from Rajasthan and sometimes Pakistan and Afghanistan.  High-speed winds are very effective at dispersing pollutants, but winters bring a dip in wind speed over all as compared to in summers. Apart from this, the dip in temperatures is also behind the increased pollution levels

As a solution, Last year, Delhi launched a ‘Graded Response Action Plan’ under directions from the Supreme Court. Implementation of the GRAP and releasing a list of approved fuels for vehicle and industrial use, are steps in the right direction. However experts claim that more needs to be done