A generally cloudy sky with light rainfall is expected in the national capital which might bring some respite from the cold wave conditions for a few days, the IMD said on Thursday.
All the same, cold wave conditions are very likely to persist in isolated pockets over Delhi and its neighbouring states from January 15 again, a India Meteorological Department bulletin said.
Even though a current western disturbance and consequent stronger surface winds have significantly improved fog condition over Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Rajasthan, and Western UP, a dense to very dense fog cover continues over Eastern UP and Bihar.
The minimum temperature in Delhi on Thursday settled at 9.3 degrees Celsius, two notches above the season's average.
The maximum temperature is expected to hover around 19 degrees Celsius, according to IMD.
As per the data by Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), the overall Air Quality Index (AQI) at 9 am stood at 358 (very poor category).
An AQI between zero and 50 is considered “good”, 51 and 100 “satisfactory”, 101 and 200 “moderate”, 201 and 300 “poor”, 301 and 400 “very poor”, and 401 and 500 “severe”.
The relative humidity at 8.30 am was 97 per cent, the IMD bulletin said.
Cloudy weather and light rain are predicted over the capital for the next two days under the influence of a strong western disturbance affecting northwest India, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Wednesday.
A dense cover of fog lowered visibility to just 50 metres in Delhi in the morning, disrupting movement of vehicles and trains.
"A layer of dense to very dense fog extended from Punjab to Bihar across Haryana, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh in the morning," an IMD official said.
There was no relief on Wednesday from the ongoing spell of cold wave in Haryana and Punjab, with minimum temperatures hovering below normal limits at most places.
Fog was also observed at many places in the two states in the morning. According to the Meteorological Department, Haryana's Narnaul reeled under severe chill, recording a minimum temperature of 4.6 degrees Celsius. Biting cold conditions prevailed in Sirsa too, which recorded a minimum temperature of 6.4 degrees Celsius. Bhiwani recorded a low of 4.7 degrees Celsius, Rohtak 7.8 degrees Celsius, while Ambala's minimum settled at 8.5 degrees Celsius.
Punjab's Bathinda recorded a low of 4 degrees Celsius, while Moga and Muktsar also reeled under biting chill with minimum of 5.7 and 6.2 degrees Celsius respectively. Amritsar recorded a low of 8.6 degrees Celsius, Pathankot 8.4 degrees Celsius while Faridkot recorded a low of 7.4 deg C. Chandigarh, the common capital of the two states, recorded a low of 9.1 degrees Celsius.
(This report has been published as part of the auto-generated syndicate wire feed. Apart from the headline, no editing has been done in the copy by ABP Live.)