Cold wave: Dense fog across Delhi, North India; temperatures dip

Dense fog prevailed in Delhi, reducing visibility to as low as 50m as a cold wave continued to sweep North India. The minimum temperature in the national capital on Tuesday morning was 5.6 degrees Celsius. Parts of Haryana, Punjab, and Uttarakhand experienced similar fog conditions. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecast severe conditions for Delhi and neighboring regions for the next few days.

• Numerous regions in northern, north-western, and central India are gripped by a cold wave.
• Delhi saw a minimum of 3 °C on Christmas as temperatures also declined considerably in Haryana, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, and Rajasthan, among other northern parts, over the last few days amid the cold wave.
• The cold climate, coupled with dense fog, has led to significantly reduced visibility, causing road accidents.

Railway officials reportedly said that at least 10 Delhi trains were running late by 1.5 to 3.5 hours on Tuesday. Meanwhile, flights not equipped for low visibility operations are likely to be affected, as per an update issued by the Delhi Airport, which advised passengers to contact their respective flight operators. The dense fog has worsened Delhi's air quality to the "very poor" category.

"Due to prevailing light wind and high moisture in lower tropospheric levels, Dense to Very Dense Fog very likely to continue over some parts of Uttarakhand, Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh & Delhi, and West Rajasthan during the next 48 hours," the IMD said on Monday.

Skymet Weather's Vice President (Meteorology and Climate Change), Mahesh Palawat, said that a western disturbance triggered a fresh snowfall spell in the mountains on Sunday and Monday. Following its retreat, cold northwesterly winds are sweeping through the plains, he said. The western disturbance raised humidity levels, resulting in dense to very dense fog, further reducing sunshine and bringing down the day temperatures, Palawat added.