Cold wave makes Delhi shiver, fog delays flights and trains as air quality plummets

Severe cold wave and dense fog will prevail over the national capital for the next few days, according to the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD). As a result, the Delhi airport initated a number of precautionary measures for passengers on Saturday. 

Delhi's Safdarjung recorded a minimum temperature of 2.2 degrees Celsius - the lowest this season. A minimum temperature of 2 degrees Celsius was recorded at Lodhi Road, according to IMD. 

Around 34 domestic departure flights from Delhi airport delayed due to bad weather and other related issues. Over 12 arrival flights are delayed at the airport from different destinations.

The Northern Railway said 32 trains were running late in the Northern Railway region due to fog on January 7. 

Notably the Centre’s air quality panel ordered curbs under stage III of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) in Delhi-NCR including a complete stoppage of non-essential construction and demolition work on January 6, Friday. 

Fog conditions, air quality to worsen in Delhi

The IMD, in its weather forecast on January 6, said dense fog is expected in Delhi on January 7 with a further forecast of ‘severe cold day conditions’ over the national capital in the coming 2-3 days.  

Moreover the Delhi Regional Meteorological Centre predicted dense to very dense fog and cold day conditions at isolated places in Delhi today and the conditions will continue to remain severely foggy until January 10. 

The Delhi Airport has launched several procedures in view of the low visibility conditions caused due to fog. 

On the air quality front, the situation is likely to deteriorate in the coming days, according to GRAP, which noted, due to worsening weather conditions, the air quality is likely to worsen over the next few days. It has asked authorities to implement curbs under stage III of the anti-pollution plan with immediate effect. Significantly, following the GRAP guidelines the curbs are invoked three days in advance only If the AQI is projected to reach the severe category.

Image: ANI