Winter has tightened its grip over North India as the temperature dipped in Delhi, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh. While Delhi woke up to a mimimum temperature of 6.1 degrees Celsius, while Punjab's Ludhiana shivered at 2.8 degrees Celsius. The minimum temperature in Uttar Pradesh's Meerut settled at 7.2 degrees Celsius. The mercury also dipped in neighbouring Haryana. Bihar and Madhya Pradesh also experience the dip in the temperature.
According to news agency ANI, the minimum temperature in Haryana's Hisar settled at 4.2 degrees Celsius, at 6 degrees Celsius in Chandigarh, at 6.1 degrees Celsius in Delhi's Lodhi Road, at 7.5 degrees Celsius in Uttar Pradesh's Shahjahanpur, at 6.3 degrees Celsius in Bihar's Gaya, at 3.8 degrees Celsius in Gwalior and at 6.5 degrees Celsius in Madhya Pradesh.
The Air Quality Index in Delhi on Thursday was recorded at 340 ('Very Poor' category), as reported by the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune. ANI shared the visuals from Delhi's Ring Road area near Bhikaji Cama Place which shows the thin layer of fog that covers the national capital's skyline.
As per the India Meteorological Department (IMD), light rain has been predicted in the Delhi-NCR region on Friday night. The mercury in the national capital is expected to witness a significant drop after Monday (December 25). The Times of India cited the weather department as saying that the daytime temperature will start to drop gradually from Sunday itself.
Times of India quoted a scientist at IMD, Kuldeep Srivastava, as saying, "The city saw cold north-westerly winds on Wednesday, which impacted the maximum and minimum temperatures. The temperatures may slightly drop further on Thursday and then begin to rise till December 24 after which they will again begin to drop. There are chances of very light rain or drizzle towards late Friday night or Saturday early morning."