Weather Updates: Fog, Cold Wave Conditions to Continue in Parts of North India; Delhi Air Slips to 'Very Poor' Category

Weather Updates: Dense morning fog is highly likely to grip isolated parts of north and northwest India, including Uttarakhand, Delhi, Punjab, and Haryana among other areas over the next two days, an India Meteorological Department (IMD) report said on Sunday.

Meanwhile, Delhi woke up to a chilly weather on Monday morning, with the air quality worsening as the Air Quality Index (AQI) reached 301, the ‘very poor’ category.  According to SAFAR, the AQI in the National Capital Region of Gurugram stood at 353, while it was 351 in Noida.

Apart from foggy mornings, cold wave conditions returned to large parts of northwest India with the onset of the New Year, and are set to stay for the first week of January.

Isolated pockets of Uttar Pradesh and western Madhya Pradesh are expected to experience cold wave conditions till Tuesday. Earlier, the weather department had confirmed that temperature would go as low as 4°C by January 2. Dense fog and cold wave conditions are predicted in parts of Delhi from January 1 to 5, an IMD report had said.

In January and December, fog is common due to light winds and high moisture near the surface over the Indo-Gangetic plains. The cold winter conditions lead to the condensation of moisture and the formation of tiny liquid droplets that hang in the air.

Minimum temperatures are very likely to fall by 2-4 degrees Celsius over northwest and adjoining central India till Tuesday, IMD said. Under its influence, cold wave to severe cold wave conditions are likely over the northern parts of Rajasthan as well.

A look at key weather updates in parts of India:

Cold Wave Conditions to Continue in Madhya Pradesh till January 4

In Madhya Pradesh, the IMD has forecast a cold wave across the state till January 4 that caused the mercury to remain below 10 degrees Celsius on Monday, a meteorologist said. Guna recorded the lowest temperature in the state at 5.6 degrees Celsius. There is fog during the night, the MeT office said, adding that the situation will continue for the next three to four days in the state.

Bhopal meteorologist HS Pandey said, “As it was predicted in the past that the first week of January 2023, especially from January 1 to 4, the cold wave will remain in the entire state. On the basis of that, today, the temperature in the entire state will remain less than 10 degrees in the state.”

Delhi Air Quality Worsens as AQI Stands at 301

Delhi’s air quality worsened on Monday as the Air Quality Index (AQI) reached 301, the ‘very poor’ category.  According to SAFAR, the AQI in the National Capital Region of Gurugram stood at 353, while it was 351 in Noida.

The AQI in Delhi University area was 314 while it was 176 in IIT Delhi. In the Airport (T3) area the air quality was recorded at 309.

The Air Quality Index from 0 to 100 is considered as good, while from 100 to 200 it is moderate, from 200 to 300 it is poor, and from 300 to 400 it is said to be very poor and from 400 to 500 or above it is considered as severe.

Foggy Morning, Cold Wave Conditions in Kolkata

On Monday morning, West Bengal’s Kolkata city also saw cold wave and fog conditions.  Air quality in Kolkata remained ‘very poor’ on New Year’s Day on Sunday as revellers burst firecrackers after midnight.

AQI of 314 (PM 2.5) was recorded at Bidhannagar, 303 at Victoria Memorial and 319 at Rabindra Bharati University around 5 pm on Sunday, all categorised as very poor.

Delhi Records Minimum Temperature of 5.5 Deg Celsius on New Year

On January 1, the national capital recorded the minimum temperature at 5.5 degrees Celsius, two notches below the season’s average, an IMD bulletin said. It recorded a maximum temperature of 21.1 degrees Celsius, a notch above the season’s average.

The IMD has forecast ‘dense’ fog in Delhi on Monday. The minimum and maximum temperatures are likely to settle around 6 degrees Celsius and 20 degrees Celsius respectively.

Meanwhile, it was a cold Monday morning in Delhi as the minimum temperature settled at 7.6 degrees Celsius, normal for this time of the year. The relative humidity was 90 per cent at 8.30 am.

Dense Fog Conditions Reduce Visibility, to Continue Over Next 4 Days

‘Dense’ to ‘very dense’ fog and cold wave conditions are very likely to continue over the plains of northwest India during the next four days. Visibility in Ambala, Dehradun, Bareilly, and Varanasi dropped to 25 metres at 5:30 am. In Chandigarh, Patiala, Bahraich, Gaya, Purnea, Kailashahar and Agartala, it was 50 metres, IMD officials said on Sunday.

According to the IMD, ‘very dense’ fog is when visibility is between 0 and 50 metres, 51 and 200 metres is ‘dense’, 201 and 500 metres ‘moderate’, and 501 and 1,000 metres ‘shallow’.

Winter Holidays Extended in Punjab and Uttar Pradesh

With dense fog and cold wave conditions predicted in Punjab, the state government on Sunday announced that schools will remain closed for winter holidays till January 8, instead of January 2, as was said earlier. IMD Director General Mrutyunjay Mohapatra on Saturday said temperatures will be normal over Haryana and Punjab.

Meanwhile, parts of Uttar Pradesh like Sitapur and Gorakhpur also extended winter holidays in schools. In Sitapur, holisays were extended for students of class 1 to class 12 of all recognized schools till January 4 in view of severe cold and excessive fog.

In Gorakhpur, the District Magistrate announced closure of government and other recognized schools from LKG to class VIII for two days on January 2, 2023 and January 3, 2023, in view of cold wave.

(With PTI, ANI Inputs)

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