NEW DELHI: The capital woke up to a cloud of haze on Tuesday morning and similar ‘smoky’ conditions prevailed through the evening as well. The city’s air quality index (AQI) was recorded at 351 which falls into the ‘very poor’ category according to CPCB data. While Delhi has seen relatively cleaner air in the past few days, Tuesday’s AQI was the highest this week and experts say air quality is likely to worsen in the next five days with ‘calm’ weather conditions not allowing dispersal of particulate matter easily.A Sudhakar, member secretary at CPCB, said wind speeds have dropped over the last 24 hours and are likely to remain ‘calm’ in the next five days. This will mean poor dispersal of particulate matter that is already getting trapped in the region.“The current air quality is being attributed to meteorological conditions. Winds are very calm, both during the day and at night. That is why you can see more haze. The particulate matter and dust is getting trapped locally due to high moisture content and there are no winds to disperse them, so it is hanging in the air and is clearly visible,” said Sudhakar.Officials say the weather conditions, however, have not been affected due to stubble burning in Punjab with winds from the region not blowing towards the capital.“We also have dust clouds passing through at higher altitudes. These dust clouds get trapped just before the mixing height and when they come in contact with moisture, they become heavy and come down. This is what the capital is experiencing currently and is causing this haze. We expect the scenario to be same for the next five days and people should be more vigilant if the AQI touches or crosses 380,” Sudhakar added.Air quality in the NCR region also deteriorated as compared to the last few days with both Ghaziabad and Faridabad in the “severe” category with an AQI of 439 and 410 respectively. The pollution levels however are much better as compared to the same time last year.PM10 levels on Tuesday were recorded at 298 micrograms per cubic metre, while PM2.5 levels were recorded at 179 micrograms per cubic metre — both three times the safe standard. The System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR) forecast showed air quality is likely to deteriorate in the next three days due to the current weather conditions.