Delhiites woke up to a cool morning on Friday with the minimum temperature settling at 7.7 degrees Celsius, even as poor visibility affected rail traffic. A total of 115 north-bound trains were running late by several hours, ranging between two and six hours, while 60 trains were rescheduled due to dense fog.
However, the flight operation was normal as per the Delhi Airport website. The Safdarjung observatory recorded visibility of 400 metres at 8.30 am while at the Palam observatory, it was recorded at 500 meters.
“Twenty one trains, including Vikramshila Express, Poorva Express, Kanpur Shatabdi, Gomti Express and Patna Rajdhani, were cancelled due to fog,” said a senior Northen Railway official .
The 12281 Bhubaneshwar-New Delhi Rajdhani Express was running 24 hours behind the schedule, 12423 Dibugarh-New Delhi Rajdhani Express was 18 hours behind the schedule, 12033 Kanpur-New Delhi Shatabdi Express was 16 hours delayed and 12401 Magadh Express was 24
hours late.
Flight operations at the Delhi airport, however, remained normal, said Delhi International Airport limited ( DIAl) spokesperson.
According to a MeT Department official, visibility was recorded at 600 meters at 5.30 am which dropped to 400 meters at 8.30 am. It was recorded at 800 meters at 11.30 am and 2.30 pm.
The maximum temperature settled at 26.6 degrees Celsius, two notches above normal, while the minimum temperature was pegged at 7.7 degrees, a notch below the season’s average.
The humidity oscillated between 97 and 51 per cent.
The weatherman has predicted mainly clear skies for Saturday with the maximum and minimum temperature expected to settle at 27 and 9 degrees Celsius.
“The skies will be mainly clear. Dense to very dense fog is likely to occur towards morning,” the weatherman said.
On Thursday, the maximum temperature settled at 23.9 degrees Celsius while the minimum temperature was recorded at 8.7 degrees.