Breathing the air in Srinagar is equivalent to smoking 109 Cigarettes a month
The city’s average PM2.5 concentration has hovered near 80 µg/m³, while the mean AQI stands at about 168, according to data from AQI. in.
Over the past 24 hrs, AQI peaked at 180 and PM2.5 concentration peaked at 96 µg/m³. But I am not taking this into account – the estimate is based purely on average conditions.
As per Berkeley Earth’s rule of thumb, one cigarette per day is the rough equivalent of a PM2.5 level of 22 µg/m³. (Research Paper:
https://berkeleyearth.org/air-pollution-and-cigarette-equivalence/)
By that measure, simply breathing Srinagar’s air for 24 hours equals smoking about 3.6 cigarettes daily – adding up to nearly 25 cigarettes a week or 109 in a month.
Note: The Result is based on the AQI and PM2.5 Levels in the past 24 hrs. This is not a long-term average for Srinagar – it applies to high-pollution days. But even then, when the air still exposes you to the equivalent of three to four cigarettes in a single day, that is no joke. Cleaner days do not erase the damage from high-pollution days.
Formula Used: Cigarettes = [(PM2.5 concentration/22) × (Hours exposed/24)]
Regards: Kashmir Weather
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