Fog in many parts of Delhi, mercury may drop to 4 degree Celsius by weekend

 

• Rail and flight operations were also affected with several trains being canceled while flights were diverted.

Vehicular movement in the national capital was affected on Tuesday morning due to low visibility as a thin layer of fog enveloped many parts of Delhi. Rail and flight operations were affected and several trains were canceled while flights were diverted.

An Indian Railways spokesperson said at least 21 Delhi-bound trains were running late by one-and-a-half to five hours due to foggy conditions in the city. Flight operations to the city were also affected on Monday night due to bad weather and several flights were diverted to Jaipur.

The city's temperature on Tuesday was a degree above normal as the Safdarjung Observatory, Delhi's primary weather station, recorded a minimum temperature of 8.5 degrees Celsius. The Meteorological Department has predicted the maximum temperature to be around 17 degrees Celsius.

According to the IMD, a dense layer of fog has enveloped many parts of the Indo-Gangetic plains and adjoining central and eastern parts of the country.

The Meteorological Department expects foggy conditions to continue for two days and the temperature may drop to around 4 degrees Celsius by the weekend.

Very dense fog and cold day conditions are very likely to continue over northwest India during next four to five days. The IMD said cold wave conditions are likely to continue over northwest India during the next three days and thereafter reduce in intensity.

'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', as determined by the Indian Meteorological Department. department as per norms.

The air quality index (AQI) of the national capital at around 11:00 am was 384 indicating 'very poor' air quality.

The Air Quality Management Commission had said on Monday that the norms for the third stage under the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) would remain in force till the pollution levels are out of control.