Lahore tops world’s most polluted cities on last day of year

LAHORE: The provincial metropolis ranked first on top of the world’s most polluted cities on the last day of the year 2024.

Data collected from IQAir revealed that the average AQI of the city was 246 (very unhealthy) and PM2.5 concentration was 34.1 times the WHO annual PM2.5 guideline value.

The most polluted city localities included US Consulate (718), Askari 10 (510), Polo Ground Cantt (432), Near Ada Plot, Raiwind Road (429), Pine Avenue (378), Phase8-DHA (368), Askari 10 (354), University of Management and Technology (322), Mini Market Gulberg (306) and Hiking & Mountaineering Club GCU (293).

Meanwhile, cold wave with partly cloudy conditions continued to prevail here on Tuesday while Met office predicted similar weather conditions for the next 24 hours. Met officials said continental air was prevailing over most parts of the country while a shallow westerly wave was likely to affect western and northern parts of the country. They predicted that mainly cold and partly cloudy weather was expected in most parts of the country. Light rain/snow was likely at isolated places in northern Balochistan, Upper Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Gilgit-Baltistan and Kashmir. Moderate to dense fog was likely to persist in most plain areas of Punjab, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and upper Sindh during morning/night hours. Tuesday’s minimum temperature was recorded at Leh where mercury dropped to -11°C, while in Lahore, it was 5.5°C and maximum was 14.6°C.