At 3 degrees C, Delhiites experience coldest day of the season so far

There has been no respite from cold wave conditions in the National Capital as Delhiites experienced coldest day of this season so far on Thursday with minimum temperature being recorded at 3 degrees Celsius, four degrees below normal.

According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the Safdarjung Observatory, the primary weather station here, had recorded the minimum temperature.

The weather station at New Delhi-Ayanagar recorded the minimum temperature of 2.2 degrees Celsius, five degrees below normal.

The weather station at New Delhi-Lodhi Road recorded a minimum temperature of 2.8 degrees Celsius, three degrees below normal while the weather station at New Delhi-Ridge recorded a minimum temperature of 2.8 degrees Celsius, four degrees below normal.

The Regional Meteorological Department, Delhi of the IMD said there will be “dense to very dense fog” at many places. “Cold day to severe cold day conditions at a few places and cold day conditions at isolated places in Delhi, Haryana and Chandigarh,” the IMD said.

As per the IMD forecast, the minimum and maximum temperatures in January 2023 are most likely to remain below normal over many parts of central India and adjoining areas of peninsular, east and northwest India.

On Thursday, Delhi also witnessed very dense fog with visibility at a low of 25 metres at Palam and 50 meters at Safdarjung at 5.30 a.m, the IMD said.

Today, the Delhi Airport issued a fog alert for all passengers. According to the authorities, low visibility procedures are in progress at the Delhi Airport.

All flight operations are currently normal and the passengers are requested to contact the airline concerned for updated flight information, the authorities added.

Many trains were also running late owing to the dense fog and low visibility level on Thursday.

A total of 12 trains were running late and two trains were rescheduled in the Northern Railway region due to fog.

“Visibilities reported at 0530 hrs IST of today, Jammu & Kashmir: Jammu 25, Punjab: Bhatinda 0; Amritsar, Patiala 25, Haryana, Chandigarh & Delhi: Ambala & Chandigarh, Palam 25 each; Safdarjung 50 Uttarakhand: Dehradun 200 Northwest Rajasthan: Ganganagar & Churu 25,” the IMD said in a tweet.

The air quality of Delhi remained in a very poor category with PM 2.5 at 325 and PM 10 at 195 under moderate category.

An AQI between zero and 50 is considered ‘good’, 51 and 100 ‘satisfactory’, 101 and 200 ‘moderate’, 201 and 300 ‘poor’, 301 and 400 ‘very poor’, and 401 and 500 ‘severe’.

Experts said the air quality may also remain in the very poor category for the next few more days.

At Pusa, the AQI recorded PM 2.5 at 313 which is a ‘very poor category’.

At Lodhi Road, the Air Quality Index with PM 2.5 concentration was at 309 under the very poor category and the PM 10 stood at 184 under the moderate category. In Ayanagar the PM 2.5 was at 312, poor category while the PM 10 reached 186, in moderate category.

The Air Quality Index at the city’s Mathura Road was also under the very poor category with PM 2.5 at 346 with PM 10 concentration at 277 under the poor category.

According to the forecast from the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR), the air quality of the city will deteriorate further under the very poor category with PM 2.5 reaching 336 and the PM 10 concentration at 216 under ‘poor category’ on Friday.

Delhi’s AQI is also forecast to remain likely in the ‘very poor’ category till January 13.