A “very dense” fog blanketed Delhi for a second day and reduced visibility to 50 metres in parts of the Capital on Tuesday morning, disrupting both air and rail operations even as the air quality remained in the very poor category and the mercury dipped to 7°C on Tuesday.
Five flights were diverted to Jaipur between 8:30am and 10am and over 25 flights and 14 trains were delayed. In a post on X, the Delhi airport said landing and takeoffs continued even as flights without the equipment to land amid low visibility may get affected. “Passengers are requested to contact the airline concerned for updated flight information. Any inconvenience caused is deeply regretted.”
The northern railways said at least 14 trains were running late by over an hour until 9:30am. “The trains include the Puri-New Delhi Purushottam Express, the Gaya to New Delhi Magadh Express, the Howrah-New Delhi Poorvah Express, and the Chennai-New Delhi GT Express,” said a railways official. The official added trains were slowed down during fog for safety reasons.
An India Metrological Department official said the visibility deteriorated since Monday night, touching 50 metres at around 8am. “Visibility was 1000 metres at Palam at 11pm on Monday. It dipped to 150 metres by 5:30am on Tuesday…further down to 50 metres.”
The fog resulted in traffic snarls at the Capital’s borders on Monday morning when the visibility at the Indira Gandhi International Airport dropped to zero metres between 5.30am and 9.30am, forcing the diversion of seven flights to Jaipur and one to Ahmedabad.
The minimum temperature of 7°C recorded on Tuesday was a degree below normal. It was 7.8°C a day earlier. Delhi recorded a maximum temperature of 23.8°C on Monday. It was likely to remain around 24°C on Tuesday.
Experts have attributed the warmer day-time temperatures to the El Nino weather phenomenon.
An average Air Quality Index (AQI) of 374 (very poor) was recorded at 9am, a marginal improvement from a reading of 383 (very poor) at 4pm on Monday.
The AQI improved after remaining in the severe zone for three days but stayed much over safe limits on Monday.
“Dense to very dense” fog was expected to blanket Delhi and swathes of northwestern India until Wednesday. A spell of rain was expected on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day.