Delhi-NCR on Sunday woke up to a thick blanket of fog that led to over 100 flights and 22 trains getting delayed due to poor visibility. The national capital recorded a minimum temperature of 3.5 degrees Celsius, four notches below the seasonal average, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said. Delhi on Sunday morning was blanketed by dense fog with lowest visibility at zero at Safdarjung at 8 a.m. while the Palam also recorded zero visibility at 5 a.m.
The IMD classifies fog intensity into four types: shallow, moderate, dense and very dense fog. The visibility ranges from 999 m to 500 m, 499 m to 200 m, 199 m to 50 m and less than 50 m, respectively.
According to Indian Railways, a total of 22 trains were running late by hours due to fog and cold wave. The traffic on the roads was extremely slow as fog reduced the visibility to a few feet. Meanwhile, several areas in Delhi were experiencing ‘severe’ air quality, prompting the weather office to issue a red alert due to the prevailing cold and fog conditions. The IMD forecast indicated dense fog to persist in Delhi until Tuesday.
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On January 12, the city encountered the first cold wave day of the season, with temperatures dropping to 3.9 degrees Celsius. Saturday marked the coldest night so far, recording a season-low temperature of 3 degrees in Aya Nagar, the last village on the Mehrauli-Gurgaon Road in Delhi.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Sunday that dense to very dense fog conditions are likely to prevail over North India during the next 4-5 days.
The IMD also predicted that cold wave to “severe” cold wave conditions are very likely to continue in some parts of Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh and Delhi till January 16.
In its daily bulletin, the weather forecast agency said that ‘minimum temperatures’ are in the range of 3-7 degree Celisus over most parts of Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, and in the range of 8-10 degree Celisus over many parts of south Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand.
“These are below normal by 1 to 4 degree Celisus in many parts of Northwest and adjoining east India,” said the IMD.
The IMD further predicted that dense to very dense fog conditions are very likely to prevail for a few hours in the night/morning in many parts of Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh till January 16, in some parts on January 16 night and January 17 morning and in isolated pockets for subsequent two days.