As the city basked in Yuletide spirit ahead of the year-end festivities, the mercury, too, dipped, adding to the Christmas vibes in the national capital.
According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the minimum temperature in the national capital on Sunday dropped to 9.1°C even as residents woke up to a typically chilly and foggy morning.
The Lodhi Road observatory recorded the minimum temperature at 9.1°C while visuals in the morning hours from Lodhi Road, Safdarjung Road, Jor Bagh, Sri Aurobindo Marg and AIIMS showed a thick layer of fog hanging overhead with only a smattering of vehicles and commuters out in the streets.
Earlier, on Saturday, the Palam observatory of the national capital recorded a minimum temperature of 14°C, while Safdarjung logged 12.2°C.
As the chill tightened its grip on the national capital, many were seen huddling around bonfires to keep themselves warm.
A few of the commuters said that the mercury fell significantly in the early hours of Saturday and that the cold was extreme.
“It’s tough to be outdoors in the morning as the cold can chill you to the bone. We are doing our best to stay warm by bundling ourselves in heavy woollens and wearing caps,” a commuter told ANI on Sunday.
A few people from elsewhere, who are in the city for medical treatment, complained about the non-availability of enough shelter homes in the Capital.
A woman, who introduced herself as Nikhat Parveen, said, “We are forced to spend nights on open roads as there is no space in Rain Basera (a shelter home).”
“We are not allowed to enter shelter homes as they have been taken over by people who have been putting up at these shelters for 10 years now. Outsiders are not allowed,” another person told ANI.
Meanwhile, the overall Air Quality Index (AQI) in the national capital was recorded in the ‘Very Poor’ range, at 8 am on Sunday, according to SAFAR-India (System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research).
The national weather forecasting agency earlier said the minimum temperature across North India was likely to increase by 2-3 degrees Celsius over the next three days.