According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD) bulletin, Delhi and its neighbouring states in North India will see no respite from cold day conditions and dense fog until January 28.
Biting cold and dense fog continued in Delhi and its neighbouring states in North India on Thursday, with the India Meteorological Department (IMD) forecasting no respite from the situation until January 28.
The weather department predicted that dense to very dense fog would prevail at night or morning for a few hours in Delhi, Chandigarh, Haryana, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh until January 28 morning. Dense fog would also continue in isolated pockets of north Rajasthan until January 26. Cold to severe cold day conditions would also continue over these states and Union territories until January 28.
The national capital has experienced five cold days and as many cold wave days in January so far, the highest in the past 13 years, the IMD said.
Delhi recorded a minimum temperature of 7.2 degrees Celsius, 2.8 notches below normal at 5:30 am at its official weather observatory, Safdarjung.
In Safdarjung and Palam, visibility was reduced to 50 metres and 25 metres, respectively, due to thick fog. Various flight and train operations remain affected, with visuals from the Indira Gandhi International Airport showing cars plying on the road with hardly any visibility.
The Delhi Airport also issued a fog alert to passengers on X, asking them to contact the airline for “updated flight information” as operations may be affected.
Flight operations have been badly hit owing to dense fog this winter, with the Delhi airport turning into a chaotic spot as passengers stood in queues for hours due to delays. Earlier this month, the only operational CAT IIIB (equipped to handle low visibility) runway in Delhi airport was shut for a few hours as dense fog caused the visibility to hit zero.
On Wednesday, Delhi and its neighbouring areas in the National Capital Region (NCR) received light rainfall in the wee hours. The IMD reported ‘trace’ rainfall at the Safdarjung observatory. Delhi has not received any rainfall in January so far, an unusual occurrence as opposed to previous years, according to IMD’s data.
The minimum temperature on Wednesday settled at 8.3 degrees Celsius at Safdarjung, one notch below normal, while the maximum temperature was recorded at 18.3 degrees Celsius, two notches below the season’s average.
Article source: indiatoday.in
