Several flights were delayed at Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport owing to reduced visibility caused by intense fog in the city on Saturday, news agency ANI reported. Flight operations have been hampered for the sixth consecutive day this week. Meanwhile, bad weather hampered train travel to and from the nation's capital.
As many as 11 Delhi-bound trains are running late due to low visibility as a result of dense fog conditions in many parts of the country.
Most sections of north India continued to shiver on Saturday morning owing to the cold wave conditions, which were accompanied by dense fog that reduced visibility and disrupted rail and aviation travel in the national capital. However, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) reported that the fog was less dense throughout northwest India, including Delhi, and more dense over Bihar, compared to Friday at 05:30 a.m.
The lowest temperature in the national capital will be around seven degrees, while the highest temperature will reach 15 degrees. Delhi is expected to have dense to extremely dense fog, as well as cold day to severe cold day temperatures.
"Delhi's Lodhi Road recorded a minimum temperature of 6.0°C today; Madhya Pradesh's Nowgong recorded a minimum temperature of 3.1°C today," IMD stated.
Low Visibility Across North India
With the IMD predicted severe to extremely dense fog across North India for the next five days, Delhi Airport recorded a visibility of 1200 metres. Visibility was observed in various regions of north India, including Jammu and Kashmir (200 m), Hissar (Haryana) (200 m), Chandigarh and Ambala (500 m each), Dehradun (Uttarakhand) (500 m), and Churu (Rajasthan).
Gaya in Bihar had visibility of only 200 metres. The visibility in Jhasi, Bhagalpur, Ranchi, and Jamshedpur was limited to 500 metres.
Notably, there was a brief respite from the frigid weather on January 7 and 8. However, the reprieve was short-lived, as frigid winds returned on January 9.