Delhi recorded worst day in terms of “dense fog” as twenty-seven trains were delayed and flight operations disrupted after thick fog engulfed the national Capital on Monday morning.
According to Dr R Jenamani, the visibility was 100 meters between 4 AM and 10 AM and remained constantly below 200 meters with CAT - III A/B ILS conditions at runways for flight operations, however there were no cancellations and diversions recorded. Tracking the fog record, Dr Jenamani said that on January 17-18 , similar dense fog was recorded. “All earlier major dates of this season of dense fog at IGIA are: 14 December, 25 December, 2 January, 4, 7 and 18 January.
On Monday, the minimum temperature settled at 8 degrees Celsius, a notch below the season’s average.”Twenty-seven trains were delayed with an average delay of around three to four hours,” the railways said.The trains delayed included the Malda-Delhi Farakka Express and Allahabad-New Delhi Duronto. The visibility at Safdarjung was recorded at 200 metres at 5.30 am that reduced to 100 metres at 8.30 am, a meteorological (Met) department official said.
At Palam the visibility was 50 metres at 5.30 am and 8.30 am which led to disruption of flight operations at the Indira Gandhi International airport.
“Due to fog, some of flights have been put on hold at the departure points. This has led to a delay,” a source at Delhi airport said.
However, he added that “largely, there have been no diversions or cancellations of flights” as yet. The minimum runway visibility required for take off at Delhi is 125 metres. The Met office has forecast clear skies for the day ahead with the maximum temperature likely to settle at 21 degrees.