Even as there has been no respite from cold wave conditions in North India in the past one week, a chillier and foggier Christmas-eve welcomed Delhiites they woke up on Saturday morning on. The minimum temperature in the National Capital was recorded at 5.4 degrees Celsius, three degrees below normal.
According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the Safdarjung Observatory, the primary weather station in the national capital, had recorded the minimum temperature.
“Today, Fog layer seen mainly over Punjab, north Rajasthan, Haryana and Delhi and other regions like Uttar Pradesh are free from dense layer of fog. Another layer is seen over some parts of Bihar,” the IMD said in a tweet.
At 5:30 am, visibility at two National Capital’s weather stations, Palam and Safdarjung was 100 metres and 200 metres, respectively.
Among other cities of the country, the visibility was 25 metres at Patiala and Ganganagar while at Churu, the visibility was 50 metres.
Due to dense fog in the National Capital Region, a total of 14 Delhi-bound trains were running late, Northern Railway informed on Saturday.
According to CPRO Northern Railway, the Puri-New Delhi Purushottam Express is late by 3:30 hours. The Gaya-New Delhi Mahabodhi Express is running late by 1:30 hours. The Barauni-New Delhi Special is late by 1:20 hours; Kathgodam-Jaisalmer Express by 1:30 hours; Ayodhya Cantt- Delhi Express by 2:30 hours; Rajgir-New Delhi Express by 2:40; Pratapgarh-Delhi Junction Express by 1:30 hours.
The Daulatpur Chowk-New Delhi Express is late by 2 hours; Dibrugarh-Delhi Brahmaputra Mail by 1:50; Jabalpur-Nizamuddin
Express by 2:30 hours; Ambedkarnagar-Kara Express by 1:40 hours.
The Chennai-New Delhi Express is late by 2:30 hours; Rajgarh-Nizamuddin Express by 3 hours; Amritsar-Mumbai Golden T by 2 hours.
Meanwhile, the IMD said a rise in both the maximum and the minimum temperature of about 2-3 degrees Celsius is very likely from December 27-30 in Delhi.
Cold wave conditions will prevail over most places of the city during the next two days, the Met Department said.
“Due to prevailing northwesterly winds and less cloudiness in the coming days over Delhi, It is expected that temperature may fall about 2-3 degrees till 26 December and will be in the range of 3-4 degrees,” the IMD said.
“Cold wave conditions will prevail over most places of Delhi during the next two days,” it further said.
“Delhi (Safdarjung) has reported the lowest minimum temperature from (December 1, 2022, to 24 December 2022): 5.3 degrees (on 23 December 2022). Today Delhi (Ridge) has reported a minimum temperature of 4.0 degrees,” the IMD said.