As entire north India reeled under bone-chilling cold and dense fog, the minimum temperature dropped to three degrees Celsius in Delhi — the lowest in January in two year. The dense fog acted as a double whammy for Delhi commuters as visibility levels came down to 50 metres around 5.30 am.
Cold wave and cold day conditions are predicted to continue for the next 24 hours, though there will be some improvement under the influence of a fresh Western Disturbance that is likely to affect northwest India starting January 7, a senior IMD official said. However, he cautioned that similar intense cold wave could return after January 13 and may last for days.
In the plains, the Met office declares a cold wave if the minimum temperature dips to four degrees Celsius or when the minimum temperature is 10 degrees or below and is 4.5 notches below the normal.
According to the weather office, “very dense” fog is when visibility is between 0 and 50 metres, 51 and 200 metres is “dense”, 201 and 500 metres “moderate”, and 501 and 1,000 metres “shallow”.
The IMD said dense to very dense fog and cold day conditions were very likely to continue over northwest India during the next four to five days.
According to the IMD weather forecast, dense to very dense fog may occur over part of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, isolated pockets of Rajasthan, Bihar, Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and north Madhya Pradesh in the next 2-3 days. A severe cold wave is when the minimum temperature dips to two degrees Celsius or the departure from the normal is more than 6.4 degrees.
Thankfully, so far the fog has not thrown into disarray train and flight operations. While 12 trains were delayed by one-and-a-half to six hours and two rescheduled due to the foggy weather, all flight operations were near normal.
In a fog advisory alert, the Delhi airport said low visibility procedures were in progress. “All flight operations are presently normal. Passengers are requested to contact the airline concerned for updated flight information,” the advisory read. The Safdarjung observatory, Delhi’s primary weather station, logged a minimum temperature of three degrees Celsius against 4.4 degrees on Wednesday and 8.5 degrees on Tuesday.
Delhi’s minimum temperature was lower than Dalhousie (4.9 degrees Celsius), Dharamshala (5.2 degrees), Kangra (3.2 degrees), Shimla (3.7 degrees), Dehradun (4.6 degrees), Mussoorie (4.4 degrees) and Nainital (6.2 degrees).
The weather stations at Lodhi Road, Ayanagar and Ridge in Delhi recorded minimum temperatures of 2.8 degrees Celsius, 2.2 degrees and 2.8 degrees, respectively.
The cold snap is expected to strain power grids and pose challenges to the homeless.
As people gathered around bonfires across the city, the Delhi Pollution Control Committee on Wednesday advised residents’ welfare associations, institutions and other establishments to provide electric heaters, blankets and warm clothes to security guards to prevent open burning of biomass that leads to pollution.
The Met office had on Wednesday issued an orange alert for Delhi-NCR for Thursday and Friday.
The IMD uses four colour codes for weather warnings -- green (no action needed), yellow (watch and stay updated), orange (be prepared) and red (take action).
A cold day is when the minimum temperature is less than or equal to 10 degrees Celsius below the normal and the maximum temperature is at least 4.5 degrees below the normal. A severe cold day is when the maximum is 6.5 degrees Celsius or more below the normal.