Dense fog envelops India’s capital amid intense cold wave, visibility drops to just 50 metres
Traffic moves along a highway shrouded in heavy fog in New Delhi, India.
A dense blanket of fog enveloped parts of northern India, including the national capital New Delhi, on Wednesday (Dec 27) morning.
The visibility in the capital city dropped to just 50 metres and movement of traffic remained disrupted.
A red alert was issued by the weather office over the “very dense fog” which had enveloped the national capital amid intense cold wave conditions.
As per the predictions of the India Meteorological Department (IMD), "dense to very dense fog conditions" will prevail over Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, UP, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.
Along with the national capital, many cities of northern India woke up to foggy weather with drastically reduced visibility.
In Patiala, Lucknow and Prayagraj, the visibility dropped to 25 metres while in Amritsar there remained zero visibility.
In the national capital, a visibility of 125 metres was recorded by the Palam Observatory near the Indira Gandhi International Airport and it decreased to just 50 metres at the Safdarjung Observatory.
However, as per the commuters, much lower visibility was recorded in various parts of the national capital. After weeks of good air quality, the city's air quality also saw a sharp decline.
Air quality deteriorates in Delhi
The average air quality declined to 381 and fell in the category of "very poor" on the Air Quality Index.The minimum temperature in the national capital fell to 7 degrees Celsius while the maximum temperature stood at 24 degrees Celsius.
As per the Central Pollution Control Board's (CPCB) air bulletin, 441 AQI was recorded at Anand Vihar, while AQI was 327 in Lodhi Road in central Delhi.
At the IGI airport, air quality remained at 368. Meanwhile, an AQI of 336 and 363 was recorded by Ghaziabad and Noida, respectively. As per the forecast, the air quality is likely to deteriorate further in the next week.
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Flight Operations
Delhi airport stated that landing and take-offs of flights are continuing as usual, however, they issued an advisory to travellers regarding possible delays.
Nearly 110 flights have been affected by the dense fog at the Delhi airport, as per the Delhi Airport FIDS (Flight Information Display System).
More than 30 flights were delayed due to fog at Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport on Tuesday (Dec 26).
As per the weather office, very dense fog is when visibility ranges between 0 and 50 metres, dense is between 51 and 200 metres, moderate between 201 and 500 metres, and shallow is between 501 and 1,000 metres.
(With inputs from agencies)