NEW DELHI: Flights were cancelled, trains ran late, and weekend road traffic was sluggish as the national capital was enveloped in a thick fog blinding it for as long as 12 hours, starting late Friday night until Saturday morning. This occurred against a backdrop of cold and polluted weather. A yellow alert was issued by the Met, expecting moderate to dense fog on Sunday and light to very light rain on Monday.
According to IMD, on Saturday, very dense fog led to zero visibility, which lasted for nine hours at Palam and six hours at Safdarjung, making it the season’s worst fog situation for the national capital. Weather scientists cited no winds, an abundance of moisture near the surface layer, and a highly stable surface boundary layer as reasons for this situation.
The fog conditions also impacted a large area of the Indo-Gangetic plains.
The formation of very dense fog leading to zero visibility for over eight hours impacted flight operations for the third consecutive day at IGI airport. According to FlightRadar24, over 400 flights were delayed, and the average delay was 34 minutes. Airport officials said that 19 flights, of which two were international, were diverted while some flights were cancelled. However, around 45 flights were cancelled either due to bad weather at the destination or other operational reasons from Delhi, airport officials added.
A dense fog across the Indo-Gangetic plain wreaked havoc on train services, leaving 1.5 to 2 lakh passengers stranded or delayed while travelling to and from Delhi. The severe weather disrupted around 100 trains, with 49 requiring rescheduling due to maintenance needs. However, the delay led to major disruptions, particularly for key trains including the Vande Bharat Express to Mata Vaishno Devi, Varanasi, Khajuraho, Ayodhya, and services such as the Lucknow Swarn Shatabdi and Amritsar Shatabdi, all of which faced delays of over four hours.
On Saturday, the city’s base station, Safdarjung, recorded a minimum temperature of 7.8 degrees Celsius, 0.9 notches above normal.
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