Delhi on Saturday recorded its coldest morning with the lowest minimum temperature of the season at 3.6 degrees Celsius. The India Meteorological Department has issued a red alert given cold and dense fog conditions in Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR).
On Friday, the national capital recorded a minimum temperature of 3.9 degrees Celsius, the lowest in five years.
The maximum temperature on Saturday is likely to settle around 19 degrees Celsius, the IMD said. The visibility at Safdarjung Observatory, Delhi’s main weather station, was 200 metres at 5:30 am, it said.
The weather department said Delhi recorded the lowest Temperature of this season at Safdurjung at 8:30 am this morning at 3.6 degrees which is a deviation of 3.8 degrees from the normal Minimum Temperature of the season. Several flight operations were delayed at the Delhi airport due to low visibility amid fog.
The IMD said a red alert has been issued in Punjab, Haryana, and Chandigarh and a yellow alert, given cold and foggy conditions, has also been issued in Rajasthan.
“Fog conditions observed (at 0530 hours IST of today, 13.01.2024): Dense to Very Dense fog reported in isolated pockets of Punjab and East Uttar Pradesh; Dense fog in isolated pockets over Haryana, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Assam, Gangetic West Bengal and Andra Pradesh;” the IMD said in a post on ‘X’. “Moderate fog in isolated pockets over Rajasthan, West Uttar Pradesh,” the weather department added.
Meanwhile, the visibility in Punjab’s Amritsar, Uttar Pradesh’s Lucknow and Varanasi came down to 25 metres. Agra and Gwalior recorded zero visibility at 8:30 am on Saturday, the IMD said.
A day earlier on Friday, IMD predicted dense to very dense fog conditions over North India during the next five days. It had also predicted that cold day to severe cold day wave conditions over the plains of Northwest India during the next three days and a reduction thereafter. Cold wave to severe cold wave conditions are likely over North India during the next two days, it added.
