Breaking Friday’s record as the coldest day of the season, Delhi witnessed the coldest Lohri this season on Saturday, as Delhi’s Sainik Farms recorded a temperature of 1.07 degrees Celsius. Despite the bone-chilling cold wave, people in the national capital were undeterred. They lit bonfires, danced, and distributed jaggery, popcorn, and rewri.
There will be no relief from the intense cold wave, which is expected to continue on Makar Sankranti on Sunday. Given the likelihood of a continuation of the cold wave, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) predicted a cold wave on Sunday.
The maximum and minimum temperatures are likely to settle around 19 and 4 degrees Celsius, respectively, it added.
According to the IMD, the minimum temperature in Ayanagar was 3 degrees Celsius (four notches below the season’s normal), 3.4 degrees in Lodhi Road (four notches below the normal), 3.6 in Safdarjung (four notches below the season’s normal), 3.9 in Ridge (four notches below the season’s normal), and 5.8 in Palam (two notches below the season’s average). The maximum temperature in Delhi was recorded at 18.1 degrees Celsius, two notches below the normal.
The maximum temperatures in Palam 17.6 degrees Celsius (three notches below the normal), Lodhi Road 18.1 degrees Celsius, Ridge 16.3 degrees Celsius, Ayanagar 20 degrees Celsius, Jafarpur 17.1 degrees Celsius, Mungeshpur 15.6 degrees Celsius, Narela 17.5 degrees Celsius, Pitampura 17.3 degrees Celsius, Pusa 18.2 degrees Celsius, and SPS Mayur Vihar 14.4 degrees Celsius. IMD issued a red alert due to cold and dense fog conditions in Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR) for Saturday. Officials reported that mild sunlight failed to raise the daytime temperature. On Friday, the national capital woke up to bone-chilling temperatures as the mercury plummeted to 3.9 degrees Celsius, marking the lowest temperature recorded this season.
The coldest Lohri was recorded in 2021 when the minimum temperature was 3.2 degrees Celsius. Earlier, the second-lowest, 3.3 degrees Celsius, was recorded on January 13, 2001, and the next closest was Lohri 2007, measuring a temperature of 3.6 degrees Celsius. On four occasions, the lowest temperature was in double digits, 10 degrees Celsius and above, in the years 2000 (12.5°C), 2004 (10.4°C), 2013 (10°C), and 2016 (10°C).
In an advisory, the IMD warned not to ignore shivering, as it is the first sign that the body is losing heat. The advisory recommended staying indoors and wearing several layers of loose-fitting, lightweight, warm woolen clothing.
To combat the bone-chilling temperatures, streets and public spaces became dotted with small groups huddled around bonfires to keep warm. Drone visuals from Munirka and Vasant Vihar areas showed fog enveloping the city, reducing visibility, and causing traffic to slow down on major roads and highways. The visibility at Safdarjung Observatory, Delhi’s main weather station, was 200 meters at 5:30 am, according to the IMD. According to the Railways, 18 Delhi-bound trains were delayed by one to six hours due to the fog. Several flight operations were delayed at the Delhi airport due to low visibility amid fog.
Delhi’s Air Quality Index (AQI) stood at 365 at 9 am, according to Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) data. The IMD said that cold wave to severe cold wave conditions are very likely to continue in some parts of Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi till January 15 and cold wave conditions in isolated pockets on January 16.
In its daily bulletin, the weather forecast agency also predicted that dense to very dense fog conditions are likely to continue to prevail over North India during the next 4-5 days. The meteorological department anticipates cold day to severe cold day wave conditions over the plains of Northwest India for the next three days, with a gradual reduction thereafter.
The impact of the cold wave extended beyond Delhi, as neighboring states experienced similar weather woes. In Uttar Pradesh, Ayodhya was blanketed in dense fog, causing disruptions to daily life.
According to the IMD, Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, and Uttar Pradesh are experiencing dense to very dense fog at many places, severely affecting visibility and disrupting transportation. Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Rajasthan are grappling with isolated instances of dense fog, creating challenging conditions for residents.
