Delhi weather: Dense fog blankets the national capital

As the dense fog and cold wave conditions continued to grip Delhi, flight operations were impacted on Monday. A thick blanket of fog has covered Delhi's cantonment area as the national capital recorded a minimum temperature of 2.5°C on Sunday. Some took refuge at a night shelter near Anand Vihar Inter State Bus Terminal (ISBT) while other homeless people slept on the streets in the Turkman Gate area.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) had on Saturday, issued a 'red' warning for Delhi in view of the continuous cold wave condition in the region. The red warning indicates extreme weather conditions. Rains are likely to pour in the capital city from Tuesday and its nearby areas including Noida, Gurugram, Ghaziabad, and Faridabad. The weather forecast agency has predicted that the severe weather conditions in Delhi is likely to continue till January 3.

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Delhi reeling under intense cold waves

Since December 14, the national capital has been experiencing "severe cold days" with the average minimum temperature on Sunday morning being recorded at 3.4 degrees Celsius, four notches below what is considered normal for this time of the year.

The maximum temperature in various parts of Delhi varied with 14.8 degrees Celsius at Ayanagar, 15.6 degrees Celsius at Lodhi Road, 13.5 degrees Celsius at Palam and 15.8 degrees Celsius at Safdarjung. The mean temperature for December 2019 till Sunday was 19.07 degrees Celsius and it is "most likely to become second coldest December since 1901", behind 17.3 degrees Celsius in December 1997, the Indian Met Department (IMD) said.

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A significant increase in wind speed is expected over Delhi-NCR from Tuesday evening under the influence of approaching western disturbance and easterly winds in the lower level. Delhi had recorded the season's coldest day on Saturday with the minimum temperature dropping to 2.4 degrees Celsius.

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(With inputs from ANI)