Delhi woke up to chilly weather on Tuesday morning as the maximum temperature consistently dropped below the season’s normal due to icy northwesterly winds sweeping through the city, resulting in cold day conditions in Delhi.
The maximum temperature settled at 17 degrees Celsius, two notches below the normal, while the minimum temperature at the Safdarjung observatory was recorded at 10.1 degrees Celsius on Tuesday. The Ridge area in Delhi experienced a temperature of 8.4 degrees Celsius, Palam at 8.2 degrees Celsius, Lodhi Road at 9.2 degrees Celsius, and Mayur Vihar at 10.3 degrees Celsius.
According to the India Meteorological Department, a cyclonic circulation over northwest UP and Haryana is causing alternating waves of warm and cold winds to blow into Delhi. The visibility dipped to 500 metres at Safdarjung in the morning, as reported by the IMD. The 24-hour average Air Quality Index (AQI) stood at 340 at 4 pm.
According to IMD officials, a cyclonic circulation over northwest Uttar Pradesh (UP) and Haryana is causing alternate waves of warm and cold winds to blow towards Delhi. There are no signs of the prevailing cold wave loosening its grip on the national capital and vast expanses of north India. The IMD does not hold out any hope of relief from the current weather conditions in the coming days, stating that cold wave conditions will persist and may even extend to some parts of central India between January 5 and 11.
“The minimum temperatures are in the range of 6-9 degrees Celsius over most parts of Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, West Uttar Pradesh, and Rajasthan, and in the range of 10-12 degrees Celsius over north Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Sikkim, and north Chhattisgarh. These temperatures are above normal by 2-4 degrees Celsius over many parts of Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Gujarat,” the IMD stated.
Fog conditions were observed at 8.30 am, with very dense fog in isolated pockets of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, and Madhya Pradesh. Dense fog was reported in isolated pockets of Punjab, and moderate fog in isolated pockets of Haryana, Sub-Himalayan West Bengal, and Sikkim,” read a post on the IMD’s official handle on X.
“Visibility at 8.30 am in Varanasi was 25, Jhansi 200, Pantnagar 25, Nainital 50, Dehradun 200, Bikaner 25, Jaipur, Udaipur, Dabok 50 each,” the IMD stated in its post. According to the IMD, fog is deemed ‘very dense’ when visibility is between 0 and 50 meters, ‘dense’ when visibility is between 51 and 200 metres.
Furthermore, fog is considered ‘moderate’ when visibility is between 201 and 500 meters and ‘shallow’ when between 501 and 1,000 meters.
Several trains, including both local and long-distance services, experienced disruptions ranging from two to seven hours due to foggy conditions, leaving passengers stranded and frustrated. As many as 26 trains were delayed in their arrival in the national capital as the city was engulfed in shallow fog on Tuesday morning.
Trains arriving late in the national capital included Bhopal-Nizamuddin, Bangalore-Nizamuddin, Bhubaneswar-New Delhi Rajdhani, Ranikamlapati Bhopal-New Delhi, Howrah-New Delhi Duronto, Chennai-New Delhi, Puri-New Delhi Purushottam Exp, Kanpur-New Delhi Shramshakti, Howrah-New Delhi Poorva Exp, Saharsa-New Delhi Vaishali Exp, Rewa-Anand Vihar Exp, Prayagraj-New Delhi Exp, Azamgarh-Delhi Kaifiyat Exp, Bhagalpur-Anand Vihar Exp, Rajendranagar-New Delhi, Banaras-New Delhi Exp, Ambedkarnagar-Katra Exp, Chennai-New Delhi GT, Chennai-New Delhi, Hyderabad-New Delhi, Ranikamlapati-Nizamuddin, Katihar-Amritsar Exp, Jammu Tawi-Ajmer Exp, Kamakhya-Delhi Exp, Ferozpur-sey, and Ajmer-Katra Exp.
