n The national capital woke up to another rough and cold weather, as fog engulfed the Delhi-NCR region on Thursday morning. The maximum and minimum temperatures on Thursday recorded 18.1 degree Celsius (two notches below the season’s normal) and 5.8 degree Celsius (two notches below the season’s normal) respectively. The city got much-needed sunlight. However, chilly northerly winds ensured ‘cold day’ conditions continued in parts of the city, with Jafarpur recorded the minimum temperature of 4.8 degree Celsius.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) said that the cold-day conditions will continue in the region as the wind speed reached up to 15-18 km per hour. Shallow to moderate fog is expected in the morning on Friday and the maximum and minimum temperatures are likely to hover around 19 degrees Celsius and 5 degrees Celsius, respectively, the IMD said.
Due to the wind speed, the upper fog layer was dissolved, and the sky was mostly clear on Thursday. The air quality index recorded very poor and stood at 348 at 4 pm. It was 337 at 9 am on Thursday, 343 on Tuesday, and 273 on Wednesday . The air quality is likely to be in Very Poor category from January 12 to 14.
According to IMD, the maximum temperature was recorded 15.2 degree Celsius in Palam, 17.7 degree Celsius in Lodhi Road, 17.5 degree celsius in Ridge, 17.4 degree Celsius in Ayanagar, 15.9 degree Celsius in Narela, 17.8 degree Celsius in Pitampura and 16.6 degree Celsius in Pusa. Similarly, the maximum temperature was recorded of 15.3 degree Celsius in Gurugram, 15.7 degree Celsius in CDO Ghaziabad, and 17.2 degree Celsius in Noida.
The Palam Observatory, near the Indira Gandhi International Airport, reported a visibility level of 100 metres at 5:30 am, that prompting the airport authorities to put its low visibility procedure into motion. The airport advised passengers to contact their airlines for flight updates while assuring that all flight operations are currently normal. However, it improved to 500 metres by 7 am due to surface winds. Due to low visibility, several flights were delayed. A spokesperson for the railways said that fog impacted the schedule of “24 trains approaching Delhi” due to low visibility.
According to the weather office, “very dense” fog is when visibility is between 0 and 50 metres, between 51 and 200 metres is “dense”, between 201 and 500 metres “moderate”, and between 501 and 1,000 metres “shallow”.
A “cold day” is declared when the minimum temperature is below 10 degrees Celsius and the maximum is 4.5 degrees below normal. For a “severe cold” day, the maximum temperature must be at least 6.5 degrees below normal.
According to Kuldeep Srivatava, the head of the IMD’s regional forecasting centre, a layer of uplifted fog persisting over the plains since December 27 is preventing the sunshine from getting through.
“Therefore, maximum temperatures in some cases have been lower than the hills where the skies are clearer,” he said. The northern plains got some relief on Wednesday as the sun shone through the thinned layer of fog, but chilly winds kept the temperatures down. “Cold day” to “severe cold day” conditions have been prevailing over many parts of north India since December 30-31.