Blanketed With Dense Fog, Delhi Wakes Up At 1.1 Degrees On New Year, Coldest Day In 15 Years

The lowest minimum temperature recorded in January last year was 2.4 degrees Celsius, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.

New Delhi: As the world woke up with hope and zeal for New Year 2021, India's national capital Delhi witnessed a chilling cold on Friday morning with zero visibility outside. Dense fog and numbing cold gripped Delhi on New Year's Day as the mercury plummeted to 1.1 degrees Celsius, the lowest in 15 years. The minimum of 1.1 degrees celsius was recorded by the Safdarjung Observatory, which provides representative data for the city, the weather department said.

The lowest minimum temperature recorded in January last year was 2.4 degrees Celsius, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said. Kuldeep Srivastava, the head of the IMD's regional forecasting centre, said "very dense" fog lowered visibility to "zero" metres at Safdarjung and Palam at 6 am.

According to the IMD, "very dense" fog is when visibility is between 0 and 50 metres. In the case of "dense" fog, visibility is between 51 and 200 metres, "moderate" 201 and 500 metres, and "shallow" 501 and 1,000 metres. The Safdarjung Observatory, which provides representative data for the city, recorded a minimum of 1.1 degrees Celsius, the lowest in January in 14 years.

Mundka, Rajghat and the DND flyway were seen covered in dense fog.

  Delhi recorded a minimum of 3.3 degrees celsius on Thursday. At 15.2 degrees celsius, the city recorded the season's lowest maximum temperature on December 18. A cold wave is also declared when the minimum temperature is 10 degrees Celsius or below and is 4.5 notches less than normal. A "severe" cold wave is when the minimum temperature dips to two degrees Celsius or the departure is more than 6.4 degrees.