Delhi and most parts of north India woke up to thick, dense fog on Friday with most regions continuing to remain in the grip of severe cold waves.
Dense fog has massively affected visibility impacting train and flight operations as well as bringing down the temperature.
On Friday morning, Delhi’s temperature was 9.6 degrees Celsius, making it the fifth cold day in a row for the city.
The minimum temperature on Friday was recorded at 7.6 degrees Celsius and the maximum is expected to be 17 degrees Celsius.
The air quality index (AQI) in Delhi at 9 am on Friday stood at 351 and remained in the ‘very poor’ category.
Morning visuals from most parts of Delhi including Akshardham, Lodhi road, Shankar road showed thick fog and very poor visibility.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted ‘dense to very dense fog’ in Delhi on Friday and Saturday.
As per the weather department, the national capital is expected to witness fog till January 8, with light rain predicted on January 6.
According to Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport, the general visibility at 6 am dropped to zero. Also, on Friday the runway visibility was between 200 to 500 meters.
Operations of flights that are not equipped to land in low visibility conditions have been affected.
As per FlightRadar24, as many as 80 flights were delayed on Friday with the average delay of 13 minutes. Some of the flights were also cancelled.
IndiGo has issued a travel advisory, asking passengers to recheck flight status before travelling to the airport.
SpiceJet too has cautioned that due to bad weather in Delhi, all departure and arrivals as well as their consequential flights might get affected.
Both the carriers have also informed about the possible change in flight schedule in Srinagar and Chandigarh due to poor visibility.
Poor visibility has also impacted departure from and arrival of trains in Delhi. On some routes, trains are being operated with changed timings.
At least 24 trains departing from Delhi were delayed due to weather-related conditions.
Apart from Delhi, dense fog is expected to remain over Rajasthan’s Kota, Bundi, Sikar, Jhunjhunu, Churu, Sri Ganganagar and Tonk, Punjab’s Amritsar, Gurdaspur, Tarn Taran and Kapurthala, Haryana’s Kurukshetra, Amabal, Panchkula and Yamunanagar.
Meanwhile, parts of Himachal Pradesh and Ladakh are expected to experience light rain and snow.
With inputs from agencies.
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Thick fog blankets Delhi as cold waves sweep north India; several flights, trains cancelled
