The provincial capital on Thursday again topped the global pollution ranking with an unhealthy air quality level. According to IQAir, Lahore’s air quality was the worst in the world, with the air quality index at a “hazardous” 400 in the morning.
Lahore, the second-largest city in Pakistan, continues to suffer from a smog crisis that has affected the health and livelihood of millions of people. The AQI is calculated based on five categories of pollution: ground-level ozone, particulate matter, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen dioxide.
AQI as high as 151-200 is considered unhealthy, while an AQI rating between 201 to 300 is more harmful and AQI over 300 is extremely hazardous.
According to experts, air pollution level goes upward in winter, change in wind speed, wind direction and sliding minimum temperature increases air pollution. The air becomes heavier in the winter as compared to summer, causing poisonous particles in the atmosphere to move downwards and making the atmosphere polluted. As a result, a layer of polluted particles, including large amounts of carbon and smoke, covers an area.
