NEW DELHI: A dense cover of fog over the capital on Wednesday lowered visibility to just 50 metres, as the minimum temperature in the city stood at 5.9 degrees Celsius, a notch lower than the average for this time of the year.
The capital witnessed a maximum temperature of 20.2 degrees Celsius, which is normal for this season, according to the IMD. The relative humidity in the weather was recorded 100 percent at 8:30 am and 67 percent at 5:30 pm, it said.
According to a senior IMD scientist, dense to very dense fog very likely to continue in some parts during night and morning hours over Uttar Pradesh and Bihar during next 24 hours and in isolated pockets for the subsequent four days. Light rain is also predicted over the capital for the next two days.
“Dense fog very is likely in isolated pockets during night and morning hours over Uttarakhand, Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh and Delhi, West Madhya Pradesh during next 24 hours,” he said. He said that dense fog is very likely to continue in isolated pockets over Sub-Himalayan West Bengal, Assam, Meghalaya and Tripura during next 48 hours.
“A fresh spell of dense to very dense fog is very likely in isolated pockets during night and morning hours over Punjab and Haryana, Chandigarh and Delhi during January 14-16,” he said.
The Palam observatory near the Indira Gandhi International Airport recorded a visibility level of 50 metres. Twenty trains were delayed by an hour to 10 hours due to the foggy weather, a Northern Railways spokesperson said. The Delhi International Airport Limited tweeted that low-visibility procedures were in progress at the IGI airport.