Cold-day conditions prevail in Delhi for 7th consecutive day, mercury drops to 3.5 degrees Celsius

Pic/PTI

Delhiites woke up to another cold morning on Wednesday as the mercury dropped to 3.5 degrees Celsius, four notches below normal, reported news agency PTI.

Cold-day conditions prevail in Delhi: Moderate fog was observed

The national capital is experiencing cold-day conditions for the seventh consecutive day.

Moderate fog was observed in Delhi with dense fog conditions recorded in isolated parts of the the city at 5:30 am, reported PTI.

The visibility recorded at Delhi's main weather station -- Safdarjung observatory -- and Palam was 200 metres at 5:30 am.

Cold-day conditions prevail in Delhi: Over 170 flights affected, 20 trains delayed due to fog

Around 20 Delhi-bound trains were running late by up to six hours due to the weather conditions, reported PTI.

According to the Northern Railways, two trains namely Puri-Nizamuddin Purushottam Express and Hyderabad-New Delhi were delayed by around 6-6.30 hours.

Similarly, Azamgarh-Delhi Junction Kaifiyat Express and Ambedkarnagar-Katra were also running behind schedule and are likely to arrive late by around five hours.

A four-and-a-half-hour delay is expected on the arrival of the Katihar-Amritsar Express, the railways' data mentioned.

Six trains namely, Rewa-Anand Vihar Express, Vasco-Nizamuddin Express, Bhopal-Nizamuddin Express, Khajarao-Kurukshetra, Amritsar-Mumbai and Manikpru-Nizamuddin are likely to arrive late by around 2-2.45 hours.

In addition to these, eight long-distance trains are delayed by around 1-1.30 hours, as per the railways. This included Howrah-Kalka Mail, Saharsa-New Delhi Vaishali Express, Prayagraj-New Delhi Express, Muzaffarpur-Anand Vihar, Chennai-New Delhi and Jammutawi-Ajmer, the railways said.

Flight movement to and from Delhi's Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport remained affected with around 120 flights including international ones getting delayed by several hours. 53 flights were also announced cancelled on Wednesday due to fog and other operational issues.

According to the Delhi Airport Flight Information Display System (FIDS) data, the 120 affected flights included 21 international departures, 23 international arrivals, 33 domestic departures, and 43 domestic arrivals.

Apart from the 120 flights affected, a total of 53 flights have been cancelled citing fog and other operational reasons, as per the FIDS data recorded till 8 am on Wednesday. This includes 21 domestic arrivals, 16 domestic departures, 13 international departures, and 3 international arrivals.

"The distinction between low clouds and fog in satellite imagery is often a challenge," an official of the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said, reported PTI.

The relative humidity was recorded at 91 per cent at 9.05 am.

The Air Quality Index (AQI) of the city continued to remain in the "very poor" category with a reading of 373 recorded at 9 am.

The overall AQI on Tuesday stood at 371 at 4 pm.

An AQI between zero and 50 is considered "good", 51 and 100 "satisfactory", 101 and 200 "moderate", 201 and 300 "poor", 301 and 400 "very poor", and 401 and 500 "severe".

(With inputs from PTI)