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In many regions of North India, dense fog engulfed the area, lowering temperatures and visibility while affecting train and aviation operations. As visibility dropped to nil, 202 planes were delayed at India Gandhi International Airport in Delhi.
According to the IMD’s 24-hour statistics, Delhi saw a lowest temperature of 7.6 degrees Celsius, a deviation of three degrees below average, and a maximum temperature of 16 degrees Celsius. Fog is predicted to last until January 8 in Delhi, with light rain expected on January 6. As of Friday morning, the National Capital has seen five consecutive frigid days, with a temperature of 9.6 degrees Celsius.
At 8 a.m., Safdarjung Airport in New Delhi recorded a visibility of 50 meters, while Delhi’s Palam Airport reported 0 meters. Commercial flights do not operate out of either airport. ‘Very Poor’ is the classification given by the CPCB to the Lodhi Road station, where the Air Quality Index is 309.
According to FlightRadar24, the Delhi airport recorded an average delay of six minutes for arrival flights and 47 minutes for departure flights, affecting flights of numerous carriers, including SpiceJet, Indigo, and Air India.
IndiGo issued a travel alert with a focus on the Delhi, Amritsar, Lucknow, Bengaluru, and Guwahati routes, while SpiceJet stated that poor weather is affecting all flights arriving and departing from Amritsar and Guwahati.
In addition to cautioning that flights may be canceled if visibility conditions continue to deteriorate, airlines advised passengers to consult flight schedules while making travel plans.
Additionally, trains leaving and arriving in Delhi are running late, and certain routes are operating at altered times.
Weather-related delays caused at least 24 trains leaving Delhi to be delayed. Among the impacted trains, the Gorakhdham Express was more than two hours late, the Bihar Kranti Express and the Shram Shakti Express were more than three hours late, and the Ayodhya Express was four hours late.
Over Delhi, Lucknow, Bengaluru, Amritsar, and Guwahati, dense fog is predicted to persist on Friday. The India Meteorological Department’s (IMD) Nowcast warning for dense to very dense fog has been issued for Delhi, Rajasthan’s Kota, Bundi, Sikar, Jhunjhunu, Churu, Sri Ganganagar and Tonk, Punjab’s Amritsar, Gurdaspur, Tarn Taran and Kapurthala, and Haryana’s Kurukshetra, Amabal, Panchkula and Yamunanagar. Meanwhile, light rain and snow is expected in parts of Himachal Pradesh and Ladakh.
A “cold day” is when the minimum temperature is under 10 degrees Celsius and the highest or lowest temperature is at least 4.5 degrees lower than what is considered normal for a specific period. Amid cold wave conditions, the Gautam Buddh Nagar administration ordered suspension of classes till 8 in all schools of the district until further orders. The Met has predicted a low of 8 degrees Celsius on Friday.
