New Delhi, Dec 31 (UNI) A sharp drop in temperatures brought a pronounced winter chill across the national capital, with mercury levels falling by more than 7 degrees Celsius over the past 24 hours.
On Wednesday, Delhi recorded a maximum temperature of 14.2 degrees Celsius, the lowest for the month of December in 11 years. The last time the city saw a lower December maximum was in 2014, December 3, when it stood at 14.0 degrees Celsius, according to data from the India Meteorological Department (IMD).
The IMD issued a cold day warning for Wednesday, which is declared when maximum temperatures remain between 4.5 and 6.5 degrees Celsius below normal.
At Safdarjung, the city’s base weather station, the maximum temperature for the day was 6.5 degrees Celsius below normal for this time of year. At Lodhi Road and Palam, the mercury dipped even further, with maximum temperatures of 13.4 degrees Celsius and 13.6 degrees Celsius, registering departures of 7.6 degrees Celsius and 6.8 degrees Celsius below normal, respectively.
Grey clouds blanketed the city through the day, with no sign of sunshine, offering little respite from the winter chill that set in early in the morning as cold winds swept across parts of Delhi.
Meteorological experts attributed the cold conditions to western disturbances over the western Himalayan region, which led to cold day conditions in isolated parts of the city on Wednesday and Thursday.
The weather department also issued a warning for dense to very dense fog during night and morning hours over Odisha, Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh and Delhi for the next six days.
Dense fog enveloped the national capital and its surrounding regions on the final day of the year, compounding the severe winter conditions. Visibility dropped to as low as 50 metres in several pockets, severely disrupting road, rail and air movement, even as residents prepared to usher in the New Year amid hazardous weather.
According to officials, at least 150 flights were cancelled, and more than 200 were delayed at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport on Wednesday morning.
The airport’s website showed that by 8.30 a.m., at least 75 incoming flights and a similar number of departures had been cancelled, while over 200 flights, arrivals and departures combined, were delayed.
