Cold weather conditions prevail in Delhi-NCR; mercury to plunge further in first week of Jan 2024: IMD

In no respite from the bone-chilling winter, the people in Delhi-NCR woke up to yet another morning of cold wave on the last day of the year with a thick layer of fog all over the national capital and adjoining areas. The minimum temperature at the Safdarjung Observatory, the city's primary weather station, was recorded at 11 degrees Celsius.

The dense fog enveloped the city, reducing visibility in several parts of the city. Visuals coming from Subroto Park, DND flyover, and India Gate showed the vehicular movement crippling owing to less visibility. According to the IMD, 'very dense' fog is when visibility is between 0 and 50 metres, 51 and 200 metres is 'dense', 201 and 500 metres 'moderate', and 501 and 1,000 metres 'shallow'. Apart from it, the Met office has forecast dense to very dense fog at most places over Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh and Delhi, at many places over Uttar Pradesh, at a few places over Uttarakhand, at isolated places over the northern parts of Rajasthan and dense fog at isolated places over Jammu and Kashmir and the lower division of Himachal Pradesh on Sunday.

Meanwhile, IMD has said that the mercury would plunge further in the first week of January 2024, with temperature hovering between 10 and 7 degrees Celsius at the Safdarjung Observatory in the national capital. Earlier on Saturday, passengers travelling to and from the national capital also faced difficulties due to the foggy weather conditions, as several flights and trains were delayed and diverted due to low visibility. According to sources, around 80 flights were reported to be delayed due to weather conditions at Delhi's IGI Airport till 8.30 am on Saturday.