Bright sunshine under clear sky on Monday provided the much-needed respite to the residents of Delhi who are battered by bone-chilling cold coupled with foggy conditions.

People in large number stepped out of their homes and even offices to soak themselves in the warmth of the sunshine to make the most of the opportunity which is rare these days even as the minimum temperature further dropped leaving them high and dry, literally,

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With schools resuming the physical classes in Delhi, the children, who were on their way to the temples of education braving the chill, had a solace under the bright sun on their way back home in the afternoon.

Many stepped out of offices during the lunch hours, while others were seen in the balconies of their homes absorbing the delight of sun against the chilly morning, restricting their movement during the early morning hours on Monday.

According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the minimum temperature in Delhi dropped to 3.3 degrees Celsius on Monday morning, four points below the season’s average.

The lowest minimum temperature across the city was recorded at 3.1 degrees Celsius in the Lodi Road area, the Met Office added.

However, as the day progressed, people felt a little warm the sun shining bright under a mainly clear sky. During lunch hour a large number of people were seen stepping out to soak in the warmth of the sun as the skies in the past several days were mostly cloudy.

Visibility also took a hit during the early hours of Monday at several places across Delhi-NCR affecting rail, road, and aerial traffic causing delays in flights and train services, while making the road traffic crawl. Given the dense fog, the Delhi airport issued an advisory for passengers requesting them to contact airlines for flight status before embarking on the journey.

“Due to dense fog, flight operations at Delhi Airport may be affected. Passengers are requested to contact the airline concerned for updated flight information,” said the airport authority in a post on ‘X’.

“Any inconvenience caused is deeply regretted,” it added.

The weatherman has sounded an alert for the likelihood of ‘Dense’ to ‘Very Dense’ fog in the night and morning hours in many parts of Haryana-Chandigarh-Delhi on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The maximum temperature during the day touched 19.7 degrees Celsius, the weather department informed.

According to the IMD’s forecast, cold wave conditions are likely to stay on Tuesday with the presence of very dense to dense fog during the morning hours at several places. The minimum temperature is likely to hover around 4 degrees Celsius, the weatherman said, adding that the maximum could go up to 21 degrees Celsius.

On the other hand, the little respite for the city’s residents can be attributed to the slight improvement in the overall air quality, which took a step down from the ‘severe’ zone to the ‘very poor’ category on Monday, with an improvement by 88 points compared to what it was on Sunday when the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) had to invoke actions under the pollution plan GRAP’s- stage III.