Delhi weather updates: City, NCR witness worst fog of season, what’s the reason behind long spell of cold wave?

Visibility dropped to near zero in Delhi and NCR on Monday (January 9) morning as Delhi, Noida, Gurugram, Faridabad and other regions were engulfed in thick blanket of fog. According to Indian Meteorological Department, cold wave would continue to affect normal lives in north India till January 10.

The minimum temperatures recorded at the Safdarjung weather station as of 8:30 am was 3.8 degrees Celsius on Monday, while the visibility was just 25 metres. Palam recorded the minimum temperature of 5.8 degrees Celsius, while visibility dropped to 50 metres.

Fog led to the cancellation of 267 trains, while a total of 170 trains were running late till 11 am. According to Indian Railways, 91 out of 170 trains were running late due to weather conditions.

The poor visibility also affected the flight operations at Delhi airport as five flights were diverted to Jaipur from Delhi airport. The five flights diverted to Jaipur are: Air India Express from Sharjah to Delhi, Spicejet flight from Ahmedabad to Delhi and SpiceJet flight from Pune to Delhi.

Reason behind long spell of cold wave?

According to weather experts, the long spell of cold wave in Delhi, NCR and other parts of North India is due to a large gap between two western disturbances as cold winds from mountains in Jammu and Kashmir and other parts are blowing in for a longer-than-usual period.

IMD data showed that Monday is the fifth day in a row that the minimum temperature in Delhi was lower than many places in Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, including Chamba (8.7 degrees), Dalhousie (9 degrees), Dharamshala (9.2 degrees), Shimla (10.3 degrees), Manali (6 degrees), Mussoorie (11.3 degrees) and Nainital (6 degrees).