Cold wave: Delhi's Ayanagar recorded a minimum temperature of 1.8 degrees Celsius, the lowest this season

 

• Cold wave in Delhi: Cold wave putting pressure on power grid, posing challenges to the homeless and animals

For the second consecutive day, Delhi recorded a cold wave on Friday, with the minimum temperature in southwest Delhi's Ayanagar dropping to 1.8 degrees Celsius, according to India Meteorological Department (IMD) data. Meanwhile, Safdarjung recorded a minimum temperature of 4.0 degrees Celsius and Delhi Ridge recorded 3.3 degrees Celsius. On Thursday, Delhi recorded a minimum temperature of three degrees Celsius - the lowest in two years in January - making it cooler than many hill stations.

A railway spokesperson said that at least 26 trains were running late by one to 10 hours due to the fog.

Safdarjung Observatory, Delhi's primary weather station, recorded a minimum temperature of four degrees Celsius as against three degrees Celsius on Thursday, 4.4 degrees on Wednesday and 8.5 degrees on Tuesday.

New Delhi airport's live flight information said, "An Air India, Melbourne bound flight was delayed by approximately 2:25 hours and rescheduled for departure at 16:45 hours."

"Dubai flight rescheduled from 9:00 hrs to 10:50 hrs, Jeddah flight from 10:25 hrs to 13:10 hrs, SpiceJet flight to be Dubai-bound also 7" Air India flight rescheduled from :30 hrs to 8:29 hrs, flight to Kathmandu delayed by 1:02 hrs, flight to Warsaw delayed by 1:45 hrs, flight to Istanbul Rescheduled for 6:55 hours to 7:38 hours, Dhaka flight from 6:30 hours to 7:31 hours, Phuket from 6:25 hours to 6:56 hours and Bahrain 5:40 hours to 6:53 hour flight."

As per information, some flights reaching Delhi IGI also reported delayed.

Earlier on Thursday, Delhi Airport had issued a fog alert for all passengers. According to officials, the process of low visibility was underway at the Delhi airport.

The cold snap is putting a strain on the power grid and posing challenges to the homeless and animals.

The Palam observatory, located near the Indira Gandhi International Airport, recorded a visibility level of 200 meters at 5.30 am.

According to the Met Office, 'very dense' fog occurs when visibility is between 0 and 50 metres, 51 and 200 meters 'dense', 201 and 500 meters 'moderate' and 501 and 1,000 meters 'shallow'.

According to a senior IMD official, there will be some respite from the cold weather under the influence of a fresh western disturbance, which is likely to affect northwest India from January 7.