With Temp Dipping to 1.5 Deg, Delhi Colder Than Most Hill Stations; Orange Alert Issued for Sunday

With persistent fog and dipping temperatures, cold wave conditions continue in the national capital, as parts of Delhi witnessed a bone-chilling 1.5 degrees Celsius on Saturday.

In the last 24 hours, Delhi’s minimum temperature plummeted at 2.2 degrees, which was less than most places of the hilly Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand as well as some higher altitude places in Jammu and Kashmir.

A dense fog continued to float in the capital  road, rail and air traffic movement was severely affected.

Due to the ongoing conditions, The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued an “orange” alert — warning of dense fog and cold wave — in Delhi, and certain parts of North India on Sunday.

Take a look at the dipping temperatures

A severe cold wave brought the minimum temperature down to a numbing 1.5 degrees Celsius at the Ridge weather station in central Delhi.

Lodhi Road and Ayanagar weather stations recorded the mercury dipping to 2 degrees and 3.4 degrees respectively.

At several places in Delhi, the maximum temperature was at least 7 notches below normal.

Delhi was colder than Chamba (5.8 degrees), Dalhousie (8.3 degrees), Dharamshala (9.2 degrees), Shimla (7.8 degrees), Hamirpur (3.9 degrees), Manali (4 degrees), Kangra (5.6 degrees), Solan (3 degrees), Dehradun (6 degrees), Mussoorie (8.1 degrees) and Nainital (5.8 degrees), IMD said.

Dense fog conditions

Very dense fog lowered visibility to 25 metres at the Palam observatory, near the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport in the wee hours of the morning.

Foggy conditions delayed at least 36 trains by hours, a Northern Railway spokesperson said, PTI reported.

The weather conditions continue to strain power grids and pose challenges to the homeless and animals.

In an advisory, the weatherman said frostbite can occur due to a prolonged exposure to cold and that one should not ignore shivering and should stay indoors.

AQI to remain ‘very poor’

On Saturday, Delhi’s AQI hit ‘Sever’ category at 5 pm, hence bringing in the GRAP stage 3 pollution control measures.

Due to the measures, the pollution was brought down to the ‘very poor’ category and will remain in the same category for the next three to four days, IMD Scientist VK Soni said, ANI reported.

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