Cold wave and rain which have been lashing the State for the past three days, continued in Indore as well with a thick blanket of fog enveloping the city for major part of the day. The ongoing cold wave which was hardly seen in the past two decades has almost Rsfreezed’ life of the city people. It was for the first time in the last 10 years that the city witnessed minimum difference between day and night temperature in the first two days of the new year.
Day temperature in the city on January 1 had witnessed the sharpest fall of 11 degree Celsius, thereby making lives for the city people miserable. It has also been for the first time in the last decade that the city witnessed a rainfall of 31 mm (1.25 inches) in the past two days, December 31 and January 1. It was only 20 years back that the city had recorded a rainfall of about 1.5 inches in 1994. Though unlike Wednesday and Friday, the city did not witness rain on Friday but due to excessive humidity in the air, the impact of cold wave in the city was comparatively bigger, forcing majority of the people in the city remained inside their houses.
Due to thick blanket of fog, visibility on Friday morning was bare minimum with vehicles plying on the roads had to switch on its fog light to avoid mishap and collision. Gripping cold wave also affected flight and train schedule in the city. Due to zero visibility at the city’s airport, arrivals of many incoming flights from Mumbai and Delhi got delayed. The Air India flight from Mumbai (AI 635) landed at city airport three hours behind the schedule. Due to thick fog, the Air India flight which has a scheduled departure from Indore airport for Delhi at 7.50, took from the airport only around 10.45 am.
Similarly New Delhi-bound Jet Airways flight (9W 792) which had a scheduled departure at 8.25 am also got delayed by about three hours. Because of fog and cold ways, several incoming trains including Malwa Express, Penchvalley were also running few hours behind the schedule. According to meteorological department, cold wave accompanied by mild rains will likely to continue in the city in the next 24 hours.