Delhi Gets Respite From Cold Wave, Dense Fog Expected On Wednesday. Check Full Forecast

As cold wave conditions abated from Delhi on Tuesday, the IMD has predicted dense fog and light drizzle in the national capital and surrounding states in coming days.

Passengers wait for trains at New Delhi railway station on a cold and foggy winter morning, in New Delhi

Source : PTI

In a major relief for Delhiites, cold wave conditions abated from the national capital on Tuesday even though the city was engulfed in a dense layer of fog, reducing visibility to just 50 metres and affecting train movement. The respite from cold wave was due to a fresh western disturbance affecting northwest India, PTI reported.

"Cold wave conditions have abated from the plains in northwest India. No cold wave is predicted in the region for the next four days," the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said in a statement.

However, the IMD said dense to very dense fog and cold day conditions would prevail over many parts of Punjab, Haryana, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday and would "gradually abate thereafter".

READ | 50 Flights, 36 Trains Delayed As Dense Fog Covers Delhi. Temperature Plummets To 6.4°C

As per IMD guidelines, 'very dense fog' is when visibility is between 0 and 50 metres, and between 51 and 200 metres, it is 'dense', between 201 and 500 metres 'moderate', and between 501 and 1,000 metres 'shallow'.

Delhi's primary weather station, the Safdarjung observatory, recorded a minimum temperature of 6.4 degrees Celsius on Tuesday. On Monday, the temperature recorded was 3.8 degrees Celsius. The maximum temperature settled at 18.7 degrees Celsius.

The weather stations at Lodhi Road and Palam logged a minimum temperature of 6.4 degrees Celsius and 7.5 degrees Celsius, PTI reported.

Light drizzle is also expected in the capital on Thursday.

The Northern Raiwlays said 39 trains were delayed by an hour to five-and-a-half hours due to the foggy weather.

Senior IMD scientist RK Jenamani said Delhi saw around 50 hours of dense fog in January so far, the maximum in the month since 2019. Jenamani also said the cold wave spell in Delhi in January this year was the longest in a decade, PTI reported.

This year, Delhi recorded a cold wave spell from January 5 to January 9, with the lowest minimum temperature of 1.9 degrees Celsius on January 8, according to the IMD data.