Delhi’s minimum temperature rises to 8 degrees Celcius, low visibility delays 16 trains

Owing to the poor visibility and other operational reasons in the Northern Railway region, as many as 16 trains were reported to be running late.

The Minimum temperature in the national capital rose to eight degrees Celsius on Saturday even as fog lowered visibility to 300 metres in some parts of the city. According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the slight rise of temperature is the result of easterly winds and a cloud cover over the national capital.

Owing to the poor visibility and other operational reasons in the Northern Railway region, as many as 16 trains were reported to be running late.

Kuldeep Srivastava, the head of the IMD’s regional forecasting centre said that a fresh Western Disturbance (WD) affecting the western Himalayas provided some relief from the chill. “Easterly winds are not as cold as the northwesterly winds coming in from the snow-clad western Himalayas, while clouds trap some of the outgoing infrared radiation, pushing the minimum temperature up,” he said.

Today, the minimum and the maximum temperature in Delhi will be 8 ℃ and 20 ℃ respectively. At 5:30 am today, Palam and Safdarjung recorded 9.4℃ and 9.8℃ temperatures respectively. The visibility recorded at 6:30 am in Palam was 300 metres and Safdarjung was 600 metres.

According to IMD, partial cloudy sky, shallow to moderate fog in the morning and strong surface winds (speed 20-25kmph) will be witnessed during the day. Northern India continues to reel under the cold wave and extreme weather conditions.

However, the minimum temperature in Delhi will again drop to four degrees Celsius by Monday, according to Srivastava. “The WD will lead to widespread snowfall in the upper hills of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. Cold, dry winds from the snow-capped mountains will bring the mercury down to four degrees Celsius by Monday,” he said.

Delhi’s air quality index (AQI) recorded on Saturday is 347, which remains in the ‘poor category’.

On Friday, the minimum temperature in the national capital dipped to 4.2 degrees Celsius. IMD scientists said the drop in temperature on Friday was caused because the fog layer in the early hours moved further away from the ground, which did not allow temperatures to rise during the day.

Flight services hit in Kashmir due to snowfall

In Kashmir, the snowfall began early in the morning and was continuing when the last reports came in.

In the wake of snowfall in most parts of the valley, the air traffic to and fro Kashmir was affected on Saturday, according to PTI.

“No flight operations have taken place at the Srinagar airport so far this morning. The runway at the airport was not available for flight operations due to the accumulation of snow. It is still snowing and hence, it is difficult to clear the runway for flight operations. Several flights have been delayed due to the snowfall, PTI quoted officials as saying.

A decision on the resumption of flight operations would be taken as and when the weather improves, they added.

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