Dense fog likely on Dec 31, Jan 1
Chilly Sunday witnessed the national Capital’s lowest temperature in five years. According to the Met department, mercury dipped to 2.6 degrees Celsius around 8.30 am on Sunday with 97 per cent humidity and less than 50 metres of visibility.
Cold weather conditions continued to prevail in Kashmir Valley and ladakh region, though there was a slight respite from the severe cold in Srinagar and Gulmarg. Minimum temperatures in Himachal Pradesh hovered around freezing point in mid and lower hills while tribal areas and higher regions reeled under sub-zero temperature. While Bihar Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi’s helicopter could not land in Sitamarhi district due to visibility problem.
Intense cold coupled with dense fog paralysed normal life and disrupted rail and air traffic in Delhi. As many as 73 flights were delayed due to fog at Delhi airport, while more than 80 trains, including 50 north-bound, were running late in the region.
According to the MeT department, respite from the winter chill is unlikely on Monday as the minimum temperature is predicted to settle around 3 degrees Celsius. “This is the lowest temperature recorded in Delhi in past five years. It could be the lowest in past decade too but records for the same aren’t immediately available,” an official said.
Delhi’s all-time low of 1.1 degrees Celsius was recorded on 26 December, 1945. “The maximum temperature is likely to settle at 19.2 degrees Celsius and the minimum is likely to touch 3 degrees,” the official said. However, according to sources, there is likely to be dense fog on December 31 and January 1.
According to airport authorities, flight operations were severely affected on Sunday. Fifty five flights were delayed due to fog and three international flights were diverted. Four trains had to be cancelled and six of them rescheduled, a Northern Railway spokesperson said.
Meanwhile, bone-chilling cold wave conditions continued to sweep across Punjab and Haryana with Chandigarh recording the coldest night of the season so far at 2.3 degrees Celsius, five notches below normal. According to the MeT office in lucknow, night temperature fell appreciably in Varanasi, Gorakhpur, Faizabad and Allahabad divisions. In Mathura, minimum temperature was recorded at 1.5 degrees Celsius. Churk was the coldest place in UP at 0.5 degrees Celsius.
Cold weather conditions continued to prevail in Kashmir Valley and ladakh region, though there was a slight respite from the severe cold in Srinagar and Gulmarg, even as leh recorded the coldest night of the season so far. The severe cold has led to the freezing of parts of many water bodies, including the famous Dal lake.
Biting cold wave continued unabated in Himachal Pradesh as the minimum temperatures hovered around freezing point in mid and lower hills while tribal areas and higher regions reeled under sub-zero temperature.
The high altitude tribal areas groaned under piercing cold conditions as mercury stayed 15 to 22 degrees Celsius below freezing point while minimum temperature in Keylong was recorded at minus 10.4 degrees Celsius.
Una in Shivalik foothills experienced the season’s coldest night with minimum temperature at minus 3.2 degrees Celsius, followed by Manali at minus 2.0 degrees Celsius while Bhuntar and Sundernagar shivered at minus 0.6 degrees Celsius. Dharamsala recorded 4.2 degrees Celsius.
Bihar also reeled under an intense cold wave accompanied by very dense fog, reducing visibility to an extreme low, even as Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi’s helicopter could not land in Sitamarhi district for an official programme.
Patna recorded a maximum temperature of 17.2 degrees Celsius and a minimum 5.6 degrees. Weather officials said Chapra, around 90 kms northwest of Patna, was the coldest place in the state with the minimum temperature slipping to 4.6 degrees Celsius and the maximum at 14.4 degrees.