New Delhi, India

The pockets of India's national capital New Delhi and its surrounding areas were covered in a thick blanket of haze as temperature dipped to 6 degrees Celsius on Thursday morning (Dec 28) and 11 people were reported to have been killed in road accidents. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) said that dense fog is likely to envelop Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab till December 31. 

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An advisory was issued by the weather office, a day after much of north India was covered in a thick blanket of haze, and more than 110 flights and 25 trains were delayed in the national capital.

The visibility dropped to 50 metres at Delhi's Safdarjung observatory at 5:30 am while a visibility of 25 metres was reported in Palam, near Delhi airport. The visibility ranged between 50 to 25 metres in Punjab, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh and UP. The met officials stated that visibility dipped to zero at Palam airport from 8 am to 10 am on Wednesday (Dec 27) and remained below 200m till 12:30 pm. 

Also read: India: Delhi wakes up to a foggy Christmas morning and chilly weather

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As per the officials, the visibility was down to zero at Amritsar, Agra and Allahabad airports till 9 pm. 

"Dense to very dense fog (0-25 meters) in some pockets of Uttar Pradesh and in isolated pockets over Haryana, Chandigarh & Delhi, Southwest Rajasthan and north Madhya Pradesh," said the IMD in a post on X.

Flights, trains delayed, Met predicts 'very dense fog'  

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According to Delhi Airport FIDS (Flight Information Display System), approximately 134 domestic and international flights were delayed due to dense fog. Meanwhile, Indian Railways confirmed that 22 trains have been running late in Delhi.

The Met predicted "very dense fog" for morning hours and late night till December 31 in the northern states. However, visibility improved in some areas of Delhi on Thursday morning, even though foggy weather prevailed in the NCR region.

"Fog likely to become more dense and very likely to extend more parts of Uttar Pradesh & north Rajasthan and some parts of extreme north Madhya Pradesh," said the IMD in a post on X, while asking travellers to remain careful and use fog lights while driving their vehicles. 

Watch: Delhi: Dense fog blankets India's Delhi-NCR region

As cold wave conditions prevailed, the minimum temperature fell to 6 degrees Celsius while the maximum was likely to not go beyond 21 degrees Celsius.

Meanwhile, air quality remained in the category of "very poor" for another day in New Delhi. New Delhi's average AQI reached 386 and AQI reached 464 which fell in the "severe" category in Anand Vihar. As per the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), the pollution level is likely to stay in the poor category for the next two days.

As fog engulfed roads on Wednesday, multiple collisions were reported across the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. In a collision of multiple vehicles on the Agra-Lucknow Expressway, one person was killed and 12 others injured. In other accidents reported around Uttar Pradesh, eight people were killed.

(With inputs from agencies)