Travellers may face flight and train delays during the next few days as the weather forecasting agency has predicted dense fog in Delhi, Punjab, and Haryana for Wednesday and Thursday. The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) issued an orange alert for very dense fog and cold wave conditions in Delhi for the next two days. It also issued a red alert in Punjab and Haryana for very dense fog and cold wave conditions for Wednesday. An orange alert has been issued for both states for Thursday.
The weather department has warned that fog conditions may affect some airports, highways, and railway routes in Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, north Rajasthan, and north Madhya Pradesh. It also said that the fog would result in difficult driving conditions with slower journey times. "Unless taken precautionary measures, it may lead to some road traffic collisions," IMD said in the advisory.
Also read: IMD predicts rise in temperature by one degree in Delhi, North India
Earlier in the day, the IMD said dense to very dense fog conditions are likely to continue to prevail over North India during the next 5 days. It said cold day to severe cold day conditions are likely to continue over the plains of North India during the next two days and after that, the intensity will come down.
In the past 24 hours, the minimum temperatures were in the range of 2-5 degrees Celsius over most parts of Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, and Delhi. The temperatures were in the range of 6-10 degrees Celsius over many parts of Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, north Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, and Jharkhand. Today, the lowest minimum temperature of 1.1 degrees Celsius was reported in the Hisar district of Haryana.
Cold wave to severe cold wave conditions prevailed over many parts of Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, and north Rajasthan.
IMD Scientist Soma Sen has predicted a rise in temperature by 1 degree Celsius in Delhi and North India but said foggy conditions will persist. "In Delhi and North India, we are not expecting much change in the minimum temperature. Maybe a one-degree rise is likely because of the sunny skies, but foggy conditions will persist," she said.
A thick layer of fog in the past few days has disrupted road and rail traffic due to poor visibility. A spokesperson for the railways said 30 trains arriving in Delhi were delayed by up to six hours due to foggy weather. At 5:30 am, visibility levels stood at zero metres in Varanasi, Agra, Gwalior, Jammu, Pathankot and Chandigarh; 20 metres in Gaya; 50 metres in Prayagraj and Tezpur; 100 metres in Agartala; 200 metres in Amritsar; and 300 metres in Gorakhpur.
At the Palam Observatory near the Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi, visibility was limited to only 50 metres. Early morning foggy weather in north and northeast India has heavily impacted road, rail and air traffic over the last fortnight. On Monday, five flights were diverted and more than 100 flights were delayed at the Delhi airport.
(With inputs from PTI)