Chandigarh: Fog reduced visibility at many places in Haryana and Punjab on Thursday morning as minimum temperatures hovered below normal limits in a few parts of the region.
According to a meteorological department official here, reduced visibility due to fog was reported from Ambala, Hisar, Karnal, Narnaul, Bhiwani and Sirsa among other places in Haryana.
In Punjab, similar conditions were reported at Amritsar, Ludhiana, Patiala, Pathankot, Adampur, Halwara, Bathinda and Faridkot. Chandigarh also reported fog in the morning.
Meanwhile, according to the Met department's weather report, Gurdaspur in Punjab was the coldest recorded place in the state where the minimum temperature settled at 5 degrees Celsius.
Amritsar recorded a low of 8.4 degrees Celsius, Ludhiana 8 degrees Celsius, Patiala 8.2 degrees Celsius, Bathinda 5.8 degrees Celsius and Mohali 8.3 degrees Celsius.
Chandigarh, the common capital of the two states, recorded a low of 7.6 degrees Celsius.
A layer of dense fog enveloped the Indo-Gangetic plains including Delhi Thursday morning, affecting road and rail traffic.
A railway spokesperson said 20 trains were running late by 1:30 to 4:30 hours.
According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD) 'very dense' fog is when visibility is between 0 and 50 metres, 51 and 200 is 'dense', 201 and 500 'moderate', and 501 and 1,000 'shallow'.
The Met office said the Palam and Safdarjung airport logged visibility levels of 200 metres at 5:30 am.
On Tuesday, visibility levels had plunged to 50 metres at both these places. South westerly winds at the middle tropospheric level and a consequent increase in temperatures had led to some improvement on Wednesday.
Amid low temperatures, high moisture and still winds, a layer of dense to very dense fog persisted over Punjab, Haryana, northwest Rajasthan, west and east Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
"Satellite imagery shows continuation of dense fog layer from Punjab and northwest Rajasthan to Bihar," an IMD official said.
At 5:30 am, visibility levels stood at zero in Bhatinda; 25m in Ganganagar, Chandigarh, Gorakhpur and Bareilly, and 50m in Amritsar, Churu Bahraich and Ambala.
Visibility levels are likely to improve from Wednesday night/Thursday morning due to decrease in relative humidity at the lower tropospheric level over the Indo-Gangetic plains, the IMD said.
In Haryana, cold weather conditions prevailed in Mahendergarh, which recorded a low of 4.9 degrees Celsius while Hisar's low settled at 6.7 degrees Celsius.
Karnal registered a minimum temperature of 8.2 degrees Celsius, Ambala 8.4 degrees Celsius, Bhiwani 6.2 degrees Celsius, Sirsa 9.2 degrees Celsius, and Rohtak 8.6 degrees Celsius.
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