Delhiites woke up to a colder morning on Monday (Christmas) as the city recorded a minimum temperature of 7.8 degrees Celcius with a dense fog blanketing the town dropping the visibility to zero at various places. Flight services at Delhi airport were hit due to bad visibility and several planes had to be diverted due to a thick layer of haze covering the airport reducing the Runway Visual Range (RVR) on all runways measuring between 125 to 175 metres, according to India Met Department (IMD).


According to Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) data at 11 am, the overall Air Quality Index (AQI) of the city stood at 386 (Very Poor).


Fight operator SpiceJet said all of its departures and arrivals and their consequential flights may be affected due to bad weather and advised passengers to check the status of the same on its website.






"Due to bad weather in Delhi (DEL), all departures/arrivals and their consequential flights may get affected," it said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.






Vistara said its flight UK897 from Bangalore to Hyderabad (BLR-HYD) returned to Bangalore (BLR) due to bad weather at Hyderabad airport.


Vistara's flight UK873 from Mumbai to Hyderabad (BOM-HYD) returned to Mumbai (BOM) due to bad weather at Hyderabad airport.






Entire north India is under the tight grip of the cold with the mercury hovering below 10 degrees Celsius across various states.






IMD said that recent Satellite imagery detected fog conditions over the encircled areas including parts of Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Rajathan, West Uttar Pradesh,  North Madhya Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Tripura, Andhra Pradesh and east Telengana.


Very dense fog (visibility: 0-50 meters) was seen in isolated pockets of Punjab; dense fog (visibility: 50-200 meters) in isolated pockets of Jammu-Kashmir-Ladakh-Gilgit-Baltistan-Muzaffarabad, Haryana, the weatherman stated.






As of 8:30 on Monday, fog (Visibility in m) over Airports was as follows:
Delhi-Palam 00m
Amritsar-00m
Agra-00m
Gwalior-00m
Prayagraj-00m
Jaisalmer-00m
Delhi-Safdarjung-200m
Barapani/Shillong-300m






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