Delhiites woke up to dense fog on Monday as the minimum temperature in the national capital dropped to 2.8 degrees Celsius. Flight and train movements across the national capital were affected due to severe weather conditions. According to a notification by the authorities at the Delhi airport, flight operations at the IGI Airport were affected and passengers were requested to stay in touch with the airline.
Reports said the visibility at the runway was less than 300 metres in the early hours of Monday, due to foggy weather conditions. Three flights were diverted due to the same.
Flights are operating at the airport under CAT III B conditions, which means that the runway visual range (RVR) is between 50 metres and 175 metres.
“Due to bad weather, flight operations are affected. CAT III B compliant aircraft and pilots are currently able to land. Passengers are requested to stay in touch with the airline concerned for updated flight information,” the Delhi Airport said.
Meanwhile, nearly 30 trains were also running late due to low visibility in Delhi.
Frigid grip of coldwave across North India
North India continued to reel under intense cold on Sunday as the Haryana government decided to close schools for two days and reduced visibility due to dense fog affected the movement of flights and trains at several places. While Srinagar recorded the coldest night of the season, Jaipur registered the lowest minimum temperature in more than five decades.
Although Delhi, which is witnessing the longest spell of cold weather in the last 22 years, is likely to get some relief from the intense cold wave as the wind direction is expected to change, the Met office said.
“Change in wind direction from north-westerly to easterly has started and reduction in cold day and cold wave has begun from today (Sunday). This is reflected in the maximum and minimum temperatures,” the official said.
Since December 14, the national capital has been experiencing “severe cold days” with the average minimum temperature on Sunday morning being recorded at 3.4 degrees Celsius, four notches below what is considered normal for this time of the year.
The minimum temperature in various parts of Delhi varied with 2.5 degrees Celsius being recorded at Ayanagar, 2.8 degrees Celsius at Lodhi Road, 3.2 degrees Celsius at Palam and 3.6 degrees Celsius at Safdarjung.
The maximum temperature in various parts of Delhi varied with 14.8 degrees Celsius at Ayanagar, 15.6 degrees Celsius at Lodhi Road, 13.5 degrees Celsius at Palam and 15.8 degrees Celsius at Safdarjung.
Due to the cold wave, there was dense fog in the morning at Palam which reduced visibility to 150 meters. At Safdarjung, there was moderate fog with a visibility of 600 meters.
The mean temperature for December 2019 till Sunday was 19.07 degrees Celsius and it is “most likely to become second coldest December since 1901”, behind 17.3 degrees Celsius in December 1997, the Met department said.
A significant increase in wind speed is expected over Delhi-NCR from Tuesday evening under the influence of approaching western disturbance and easterly winds in the lower levels.
Light rain is expected over Delhi-NCR during night from January 1 to January 3, 2020 and hailstorm is expected on January 2, 2020, it added.
Delhi had recorded the season’s coldest day on Saturday with the minimum temperature dropping to 2.4 degrees Celsius.
