Wednesday was the coldest day of this year in Delhi, with the maximum temperature plummeting seven notches below the season’s average temperature at 13.1 degrees Celsius. As city dwellers continued to reel under the icy cold snap, the minimum temperature settled at 6.4 degrees Celsius.
Meanwhile, the Met department has predicted similar weather conditions for Thursday as well, and fog, it seems, will be here throughout this week. Registering a significant slump in the minimum temperature, early morning fog disrupted the Rail traffic of at least 55 north-bound trains, while the maximum temperature saw a sharp decrease against Tuesday’s 20.7 degrees Celsius.
The minimum was recorded a degree below average against Tuesday’s 9.09 degrees Celsius. Humidity levels oscillated between 97 and 70 per cent during the day. “The visibility at 8.30 am was 100 metres at Palam while Safdarjung recorded the visibility of 500 metres. It improved to 800 metres at 2.30 pm and the same was recorded at 5.30 pm as well,” said a MeT official. Early morning fog continued to disrupt rail services with the operations of 55 north-bound trains, including the Rajdhani coming from Patna, Kolkata, Bhubaneshwar, Dibrugarh, getting affected. Farakka Express, Mahabodhi Express, Gorakhdham Express and Bramhaputra Mail were also delayed due to fog, a Northern Railway official said.
No flights were delayed till 9 am, airport authorities said. As Delhi shivered, intense cold wave swept across large parts of north India, including Uttar Pradesh where a sexagenarian died, with the weather remaining dry even as fog disrupted road and rail traffic in a few areas. Weatherman predicted that the skies will remain mainly clear on Thursday with moderate to dense fog in the morning. “The day will be clear with the maximum and minimum temperature hovering around 15 and 6 degrees Celsius respectively,” said an official.