Delhi’s Ayanagar records min temp of 1.8 degrees Celsius, lowest this season

At least 26 trains were delayed by one to 10 hours due to the foggy weather, a Railways spokesperson said.

The Safdarjung observatory, Delhi’s primary weather station, logged a minimum temperature of four degrees Celsius against three degrees Celsius on Thursday, 4.4 degrees on Wednesday and 8.5 degrees on Tuesday.

“An Air India, Melbourne-bound, flight delayed by around 2:25 hours and rescheduled to depart at 16:45 hours,” New Delhi Airport’s live flight information said.

“Dubai bound flight was rescheduled to 10:50 hours from 9:00 hours, Jeddah bound flight from 10:25 hours to 13:10 hours, SpiceJet flight, Dubai-bound, also rescheduled to 8:29 hours from 7:30 hours, Air India Flight, flying down to Kathmandu was delayed by 1:02 hours, Warsaw bound flight by 1:45 hours, Istanbul bound flight rescheduled to 7:38 hours from 6:55 hours, Dhaka bound flight from 6:30 hours to 7:31 hours, Phuket bound flight from 6:25 hours to 6:56 hours, and Bahrain bound flight from 5:40 hours to 6:53 hours,” it added.

As per the information, a few flights arriving at Delhi IGI also reported delays.

Earlier on Thursday, Delhi Airport issued a fog alert for all passengers. According to the authorities, low visibility procedures were in progress at the Delhi Airport.

The cold snap is straining power grids and posing challenges to the homeless and animals.

The Palam observatory, near the Indira Gandhi International Airport, recorded a visibility level of 200 metres at 5:30 am.

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’.

According to a senior IMD official there will be some relief from cold weather under the influence of a fresh Western Disturbance, which is likely to affect northwest India starting January 7.

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.

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.

A cold day is when the minimum temperature is less than or equal to 10 degrees Celsius below 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.

*with agency inputs