IMD issues alert for heavy rainfall, cold wave in Delhi over the weekend. Dense fog to engulf these states

After two days of respite from cloudy and foggy conditions, Delhi is likely to experience heavy rainfall over the weekend. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) warned of further drop in temperatures following the downpour on January 11-12.  

The weather agency also said that nights in Delhi-NCR are becoming colder due to rapidly falling night-time temperatures, while daytime temperatures remain stable. 

As per the prediction by the Delhi Meteorological Centre residents of the national capital can expect a maximum temperature of 20 degrees Celsius and a minimum temperature of 6 degrees Celsius. 

Apart from Delhi, Rajasthan’s capital city Jaipur, is also expected to witness rainfall on January 11. As a result, the minimum and maximum temperature may increase by two to four degrees in the next 24 hours. On January 11, light to moderate rain with thunder is expected in some parts of the Bikaner, Jaipur and Bharatpur divisions, along with the possibility of hailstorms in certain areas. 

Dense to very dense fog conditions are very likely to continue to prevail during night/early morning hours in isolated pockets of East Rajasthan on January 12 & 13, the IMD warned.

Cold wave conditions also continue to persist in Kashmir, as the region is currently facing Chillai-kalan, a 40-day period of harsh winter. The IMD has forecast possibility of light rain or snow at isolated places on January 11-12. 

The IMD also issued warning for dense to very dense fog conditions during night/early morning hours in some parts of Haryana, Chandigarh, Punjab and East Uttar Pradesh on January 12 & 13.

Meanwhile, a layer of thick fog enveloped Delhi and parts of NCR today (January 10) morning, with zero visibility on highways and roads recorded at 6 am. Areas such as ITO, Rajokri and Barapullah flyover in Delhi recorded zero visibility. Over 100 flights have been delayed in the Indira Gandhi International Airport. 

Parts of Delhi, Ghaziabad, Noida and Gurugram experienced dense fog, days after a similar spell of extremely low visibility last week. 

The last time visibility dropped to zero in Delhi was on January 2 and 3 for nine consecutive hours, the longest stretch recorded this season, according to the IMD. 

While dense fog made a return in the national capital, the air quality index in Delhi dropped in the severe category once again. Delhi’s AQI was recorded at 409 at 6 am on January 10 morning. The 24-hour average AQI of the city stood at 357 on Thursday, significantly up from the previous day. 

The Commission for Air Quality Management (CQAM) re-implemented stage 3 curbs under the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) on January 9 amid a sharp rise in air pollution levels owing to unfavourable meteorological conditions, according to an official order. 

The CQAM, which is responsible for strategising air pollution mitigation in Delhi-NCR, directed authorities in the region to immediately implement curbs prescribed under stage 3 to prevent further worsening of the situation.