On the first day of 2024, Delhi woke up a chilly morning with the minimum temperature settling at 10.1 degrees Celsius with several places witnessing cloudy skies and shallow fog.
The wind speed witnessed a slight rise at 7.4 km/hour, according to the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), while residents of the city felt the cold wave with a chill going down their spine.
The maximum temperature settled at 17 degrees Celsius, two points below the season’s normal, said the IMD.
The weatherman has forecast cold wave conditions to prevail across several places of Haryana, Chandigarh and Delhi where minimum temperatures will be around 10 degrees C.
On Sunday, the maximum temperature had dropped to 15.9 degrees Celsius, which was five points below the season’s average. For Tuesday, the weatherman forecast shallow fog, with minimum and maximum temperatures to hover at 10 and 17 degrees Celsius respectively.
The foggy conditions is prevailing in the northern region, including the NCR, around 21 trains arrived late in Delhi.
The chill in the atmosphere has made things difficult for the people across the city, especially the homeless, who took refuge at the shelter homes and sheds, while some tried to keep themselves warm sitting around bonfires.
Meanwhile, the air quality continued to remain under the ‘very poor’ category in Delhi, with an Air Quality Index (AQI) of 346 on Monday, the Central Pollution Control Board said.
However, the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM), after conducting a review meeting on Monday, decided to revoke the Graded Response Action Plan Stage-III (GRAP).
“AQI of Delhi has been progressively improving and has been recorded as 346 at 4:O0 P.M. which is about 55 AQI points below the threshold for invoking the GRAP Stage-III actions (Delhi AQI 401-450) and there is a likelihood of sustaining the improvement in AQI. The forecast by IMD/ IITM also does not indicate any deterioration further and there is a likelihood of the AQI improving while remaining in the Very Poor/Poor category in the next few days,” the CAQM order issued on Monday read.