The rainfall over the weekend led to dense fog formation in the city on Monday morning. Poor visibility in the early hours on Monday disrupted the schedule of over 50 flights.
The rain spell is far from getting over for north India. A new Western Disturbance circulation that is approaching India is likely to bring more rainfall to the city on February 23 and 24, the Met department said.While parts of Rajasthan, Haryana and Western Uttar Pradesh are expected to receive thunderstorm, squall and hail, Delhi is expected to get rainfall over the approaching weekend.
"The pronounced activity during February 2013 is mainly due to frequent movement of active western disturbances and their penetration into lower latitudes. The effect of these westerly systems is getting accentuated due to strong moisture incursion from Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal and its convergence over Delhi and adjoining States," said the officer at the Regional Meteorological Department.
While the sky remained cloudy on Monday morning, the sunlight made the day pleasant. The maximum and minimum temperature oscillated between 20.7 and 9.4 degree Celsius. While a slight rise in the maximum temperature is expected on Tuesday, the minimum temperature will remain around nine degree Celsius. A total of 2.1 millimetres of rainfall was recorded on Monday.
Fog in the morning affected the visibility at the Delhi Airport Runway. Among the flights delayed included 17 Jet Airways flights to and fro Delhi Airport. "Heavy fog that descended during the early morning hours forced the authorities to initiate the low visibility procedures. For over seven hours from 2.30 am and 9.30 am, CAT III procedures were initiated on Runway 29 as the RVR oscillated between 100 and 200 m. The RVR dropped to 100 m on the old runway (runway 28) for over five hours. CAT III procedures were initiated on runway 28 from 3.30 am to 9 am," said RK Jenamani, director in charge, IGI Meteorological Department.
He was however quick to add that as the visibility did not drop below 100 m, there were no major flight disruptions. Freezing wind gripped the Capital for the past few days with Sunday's minimum temperature recorded at around 12 degrees Celsius. Cloudy weather and rainfall has been frequent over the last couple of days. Heavy fog also affected road traffic in certain areas with Monday's general visibility dropping below 50 metres.
