Delhi records 2.8 degrees Celsius, season's coldest morning so far

NEW DELHI: Delhi on Thursday woke up to a cold and foggy day with the minimum temperature recorded at 2.8 degree Celsius at Lodi Road and at 3 degrees Celsius at Safdarjung . Visibility also fell to a low of 25 metres at Palam and was recorded at 50 meters at Safdarjung, the city's base station, the India Meterolological Department said.

At Safdarjung the visibility was recorded at 50 metres at 5:30 am this morning.

The Regional Meterological Department, Delhi of the IMD said that there will be "dense to very dense "fog" at many places. "Cold day to severe cold day conditions at a few places and cold day conditions at isolated places in Delhi, Haryana and Chandigarh," the India Meteorological Department said.

"Visibilities reported at 0530 hrs IST of today, (in m): Jammu and Kashmir: Jammu 25 Punjab: Bhatinda 0; Amritsar, Patiala 25 Haryana, Chandigarh & Delhi: Ambala and Chandigarh, Palam 25 each; Safadarjung 50 Uttarakhand: Dehradun 200 Northwest Rajasthan: Ganganagar and Churu 25," IMD said.

The IMD classifies "fog" as shallow when visibility dips below 1,000 metres, as 'moderate' when visibility is between 200 and 500 metres, and 'dense' when it is below 200 metres. It is 'very dense' when visibility is below 50 metres.

Delhi's AQI is also forecast to remain likely in the 'very poor' category till January 13.

IMD on Wednesday said that said dense to very dense "fog" and cold day conditions are likely to continue over North-West India during the next three-four days It added, "Cold wave conditions are likely to continue over northwest India during the next three days and the intensity will decrease thereafter."

The fog reduced visibility all over North India. The Delhi Airport on Thursday issued a fog alert for all passengers. According to the authorities, low visibility procedures are in progress at the Delhi Airport.

All flight operations are currently normal and the passengers are requested to contact the airline concerned for updated flight information, the authorities added.

Many trains are also running late owing to the dense fog and low visibility level today. 12 trains are running late and two trains were rescheduled in the Northern Railway region due to fog.

As per the IMD forecast, the minimum and maximum temperatures in January 2023 are most likely to remain below normal over many parts of central India and adjoining areas of peninsular, east and northwest India.