A thick blanket of fog engulfed Delhi and the national capital on Saturday morning, with almost no visibility on the roads. Flight and train operations in the capital are expected to be affected amid this weather. The capital recorded a temperature of 11.2 degrees Celsius at 7 am, according to the Sameer app, with the temperature hovering around 35 degrees Celsius. Images taken from the Barapullah flyover, India Gate and the Delhi-Jaipur highway showed poor visibility on the roads amid the fog. Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport also issued an advisory for its passengers. In a post on X, it said, “While arrivals and departures at Delhi airport are continuing, flights that are not CAT III compliant may be affected. Passengers are requested to contact the respective aircraft for advanced flight data. Any inconvenience caused is regretted.” January remains hot in Delhi
According to the India Meteorological Department, the minimum temperature on Saturday is expected to be 10 degrees Celsius, while the maximum temperature is likely to hover around 26 degrees Celsius. Besides, dense fog is also expected in the capital.
Notably, Delhi experienced a warm spell in January, with the maximum temperature hitting 27 degrees Celsius on Friday, the city’s hottest day this month since 2019.
The normal maximum temperature for January was 21.1 degrees Celsius, higher than the long-term normal of 20.1 degrees Celsius. Night temperatures also remained above normal, according to IMD data.
Meteorologist Mahesh Palawat, quoted by news organisation PTI, attributed the above-normal heat in January to the absence of a solid western disturbance.
“If we had one or two solid disturbances, we would have seen cold conditions due to cold winds and clouds. Instead, the temperature rose sharply,” he said. AQI data for the capital shows that the air quality will remain in the “very poor” category till February 3, after which it is expected to rise marginally.
An AQI between zero and 50 is considered ‘good’, 51 to 100 ‘satisfactory’, 101 to 200 ‘moderate’, 201 to 300 ‘poor’, 301 to 400 ‘very poor’ and 401 to 500 ‘severe’.