Delhi under thick blanket of fog, cold conditions persist

The capital and many other parts of north India were under a thick blanket of fog since last night, slowing down road traffic, delaying many trains and disrupting flight schedules at the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) here.

The maximum temperature in the past 24 hours dropped slightly to 18.6 degrees Celsius, 2.4 degrees below normal and down from 19.8 degrees the previous day.

The minimum degree remained at 6.6 degrees Celsius, 0.4 degrees below normal for this time of the year, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.

The IMD had forecast dense fog over the capital this morning and a mainly clear sky later. It said maximum and minimum temperatures in the capital today would be around 17 degrees and 7 degrees Celsius, respectively.

It has also forecast foggy mornings for the next two days. It said the maximum and minimum temperatures would be 18 and 8 degrees Celsius tomorrow and 18 and 9 degrees Celsius on Saturday.

The fog, which had started descending on the city late last night, had reduced visibility to around 50 metres in many areas. The visibility on the runways at the airport was around 150 metres for most of the night and this morning, as a result of which at least 18 flights were cancelled, 27 were diverted and 20 were rescheduled.

Airport officials said that, with visibilty remaining below 200 metres on the runways, landings were taking place but many take-offs were delayed considerably.

Several trains were running many hours behind schedule as a result of the fog. The Northern Railway has already cancelled many trains upto January 31 because of the foggy conditions and many are being rescheduled on a daily basis.

Road users reported difficult driving conditions because of the poor visibility and traffic at many places in the city had slowed down to a snail's pace this morning.

NNN

See photo

• Foggy Thursday - January 21, 2010