With the city bereft of sunshine, Saturday marked the coldest day of the season with maximum temperature hitting below the 16°C mark. The national Capital was engulfed in fog throughout the day even as the visibility hovered between 300 metres to 800 metres. The MeT department has predicted light rains on Sunday.
Moisture in the air led to the formation of thin fog that did not affect flight schedules much, but disrupted rail traffic as trains coming to and going out of Delhi were delayed by several hours due to the poor visibility. While the general visibility was as low as 300 metres, the runway visibility dropped to 500 metres, forcing the airport authorities to operate flights using CAT-I instrument landing system.
“A thin layer of fog enveloped the airport, but there was no disruption in flight movements. Though some flights were delayed and about 11 cancelled, all of them were due to operational reasons or poor weather at the destination airport. None of them were due to the weather in Delhi,” informed an airport official.
The cloudy and hazy day also had mild wind blowing across the national Capital bringing down the mercury by several notches. The maximum temperature plummeted by six degrees from normal to settle at 15.9°C, while the minimum temperature was recorded four notches above normal at 12.5°C. The humidity level oscillated between 98 per cent and 93 per cent.
The flight operations at the IGI Airport were hit due to the dense fog during the week, causing inconvenience to flyers. Delhiites may be in for a wet Sunday as the MeT has predicted light rains or thundershowers with partly cloudy sky. Also, there is a possibility of light rain or thundershowers in some areas at night or early in the morning, due to Western Disturbance.
The weatherman has forecast fog in the morning. The maximum and minimum temperatures would be around 17°C and 11°C respectively.