Cold spell lifts slightly, 11 trains delayed by fog

Traffic on the Eastern Peripheral Expressway (EPE) near Duhai, in Ghaziabad, on Saturday.

The familiar dense fog that has plagued Delhi-NCR, reducing visibility and causing delays to flights and trains over the last few weeks, dissipated into a very shallow haze on Saturday and cold day conditions lifted marginally, bringing some relief in the middle of what has been a particularly cold and dark winter.

The maximum temperature rose to 17.7 degrees Celsius (°C), only two degrees below normal, up from 14.2°C a day earlier, which was five degrees below normal. The minimum temperature was recorded at 8.5°C, one degree above normal.

While the nights were not as frigid and the day was helped by some sunshine, Saturday still felt fairly cold since the difference between the night-time low and the daytime high reduced to a single digit of 9.2°C at Safdarjung — which is representative of the city’s weather. Usually, the diurnal range — the most the temperature swings in a 24-hour period — in the Capital is in the 10-12°C range.

“The dense fog from Friday has completely dissipated into an upper layer of haze, contributing to a mostly gloomy day. However, the haze was not thick enough and mostly clear skies were observed through Saturday,” said Kuldeep Srivastava, scientist at India Meteorological Department (IMD).

In its forecast for Saturday, the IMD had issued an “orange alert” for Saturday, forecasting “cold” to “severe cold day” conditions and a “dense” to “very dense” fog in the early hours — predictions that did not come to bear.

Still, the skies were not entirely clear on Saturday and at least 11 trains bound for or passing through the Capital were delayed due to foggy conditions, according to Northern Railway. Airport authorities said that no flight operations were impacted.

Some isolated weather stations also reported cold day conditions. SPS Mayur Vihar recorded a maximum of 14.8°C, Faridabad recorded a maximum of 12.2°C, while Gurgaon and CDO Ghaziabad recorded a maximum of 14.1°C and 14.5°C respectively. The minimum at all the stations remained below 10°C.

For next three days, the IMD said on Saturday maximum temperatures are expected to stay around 18°C while the minimum will stay around nine degrees. It also issued a yellow alert for Sunday, stating that cold day conditions might be observed at isolated locations within the Capital along with moderate to dense fog in the morning.

The IMD qualifies it as a “cold day” when the maximum temperature is 4.5 degrees or more below the normal and the minimum is below 10°C.

Srivastava added, “Cold day conditions might be observed in isolated places in Delhi on Sunday. Moreover, there is a chance of shallow to moderate fog forming in the early hours of the day.”

“The winds that are coming into Delhi right now are the Westerlies, which are responsible for bringing up the temperature. While there is a slight chance of cold day conditions prevailing on Sunday, now Delhi will mostly see an upward trend of minimum,” said Mahesh Palawat, vice president of Skymet.

Palawat added, “There was almost no surface level fog throughout Saturday. Visibility was not affected.”

Delhi’s air quality index (AQI), meanwhile, stayed in the “very poor” category. The 24-hour average was recorded at 329 (very poor) on Saturday, as per Central Pollution Control Board’s (CPCB) national bulletin at 4pm. It was 348 (very poor) at the same time on Friday.

The CPCB classifies an AQI between 0-50 as good, between 51 and 100 as satisfactory, between 101 and 200 as moderate, between 201 and 300 as poor, between 301 and 400 as very poor and over 400 as severe.

According to the Air Quality Early Warning System (AQEWS) for Delhi, the air quality is likely to stay “very poor” throughout the weekend.

“The air quality is likely to remain in Very Poor category from till January 21 and gradually improve to ‘poor’ category on January 22. It will likely, however, deteriorate to ‘very poor’ by January 23 again,” said AQEWS in their daily bulletin.

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