• By Vivek Raj
  • Wed, 27 Dec 2023 10:34 AM (IST)
  • Source:JND

A thick blanket of dense fog enveloped Delhi and its surrounding areas on Wednesday morning, causing disruptions in traffic and delaying several flights. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) issued warnings of "dense to very dense fog conditions" over northwest and central India, including Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Madhya Pradesh.

In Delhi, the Palam observatory, situated near the Indira Gandhi International Airport, recorded a visibility level of 125 meters, while the Safdarjung observatory reported a significantly reduced visibility of just 50 meters. Over 30 flights at Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport were delayed on Tuesday due to foggy weather in the Delhi-NCR region.

Several other north Indian cities, including Patiala, Lucknow, Prayagraj, and Amritsar, experienced foggy conditions with varying levels of visibility. Amritsar reported zero visibility. The weather office classifies visibility levels as very dense fog (0-50 meters), dense fog (51-200 meters), moderate fog (201-500 meters), and shallow fog (501-1,000 meters).

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For the second consecutive day, Delhi and many parts of North India continued to grapple with dense fog, causing a slowdown in vehicle speed and disrupting morning traffic. The Meteorological Department issued a warning of very dense fog in the morning for the next three days, and an Orange Alert for Wednesday, and a Yellow Alert for Thursday. The maximum temperature forecast for Wednesday is 24 degrees Celsius, while the minimum temperature is expected to be seven degrees Celsius.

On Tuesday, around 30 flights, including international ones, experienced delays at the Delhi International Airport due to dense fog and reduced visibility. Various parts of Delhi-NCR, such as India Gate, Sarai Kale Khan, AIIMS, Akshardham, Safdarjung, Anand Vihar, and locations in Uttar Pradesh like Moradabad and Kanpur, were enveloped in thick fog during the morning hours.

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Given the adverse weather conditions, airport officials issued an advisory urging passengers to check their flight statuses with their respective airlines.

Additionally, low visibility affected at least 14 trains in the Northern Zone of the Indian Railways.