Delhiites experienced bone-chilling cold on Saturday which turned out to be the coldest day of the season yet with the maximum temperature dropping to a low of 12.4 degree Celsius even as blinding fog severely hit flight and train schedules.
The citizens woke up to a chilly morning with night temperatures sliding to a low of 4.3º Celsius. The day did not provide much succour to people as the maximum temperature did not rise beyond 12.4º Celsius, nine degrees below normal for this time of year. On Friday, the maximum was 15.6º Celsius.
The minimum temperatures recorded at Hindon and Indirapuram in Ghaziabad were 2.9º Celsius and 3.8 degrees, respectively, while, in Gurgaon, the minimum was 2.7º Celsius.
The coldest day of the season so far was Tuesday when the maximum and minimum dropped to the season’s lowest of 12.7º Celsius and 3.7º, respectively.
A thick layer of fog in and around Delhi disrupted normal life with more than 100 trains running late and flight services also getting affected.
The fog began descending on the city since around 10 pm on Friday and soon thickened as the visibility plunged to less than 50 metres. By 7.30 am, the visibility improved to 500 metres.
The rail traffic situation was worse with more than 120 trains running late by a couple of hours to well over 10 to 12 hours due to dense fog. At least half-a-dozen trains, including express trains coming to and leaving Delhi from ran late by nearly 20 hours or more.
The northern railways had to re-schedule more than 100 trains by four to five hours or even more due to fog. Thousands of passengers found themselves stranded in their journeys while many braved the biting cold and fog to reach the railway station.
The Lucknow-Shatabdi has been cancelled from both sides while five trains have been rescheduled including the North East Express and Puri Express.
Flight delays and cancellations were reported at the New Delhi IGI airport on account of fog in northern India, inconveniencing thousands of passengers.
As fog set in late on Friday night, low visibility procedures were enforced at the IGI airport from about 11.20 pm and continued till morning when visibility improved at about 11.40 am.
There were several flight delays despite the fact that about 280 flights operated under the CAT-III Instrumentation Landing System (ILS).
There was also one flight diversion of a flight from Ahmedabad to Delhi which had to return to Ahmedabad on account of the fog at Delhi.
Meanwhile, in the wake of the extreme cold conditions, the Delhi government has also decided that all schools in the city would remain closed till January 13.
Delhi education minister Arvinder Singh Lovely said that the schools, which had earlier been closed till January 9 (Sunday), would now re-open after January 13.
The weatherman has predicted thick fog since Saturday evening as there is very little wind and too much moisture in the air. By 9 pm, general visibility at Safdarjung had come down to 400 metres and it was expected go down further in the night, said the weatherman. At the Indira Gandhi International airport, the visibility was 350 metres.
With more rain and snowfall predicted in Himachal Pradesh, the cold conditions will only get worse, said the weatherman.