Dense fog has been covering Delhi for the third day in a row, and the visibility in the city has reduced drastically. Areas like AIIMS, Dwarka, and New Delhi station were covered with a thick white fog. This foggy weather has caused a halt in flight and train services, and several flights and trains have been canceled and delayed at Delhi airport and railway stations. The India Meteorological Department has issued a yellow alert for fog in the region.
Delhi witnessed the longest zero visibility spell of its season. Here, the improving conditions brought zero visibility to the range of a 100 metres near IGI airport. As far as trains, 51 suffered delays; a delay was detected in Vande Bharat. More than hundred flights at the Delhi airport could not depart right on time-creating major havoc for the flying passengers. Between 4 and 7:30 am today, Palam experienced zero visibility while on Sunday Safdarjung’s visibility plunged to a dismal 0.50 meters at 5:30 am. Both Palam and Safdarjung airports reported zero visibility in dense fog at 7:30 am.
Air quality in Delhi stayed in the ‘very poor’ category through most of the day as emissions from uncleared garbage and chimney stacks was not curbed, said the CPCB. Even by 10 am, the Air Quality Index (AQI) had touched 369. Minimum temperatures at Safdarjung and Palam stayed at 9.4 and 7.8 degrees Celsius respectively. Dense fog conditions would persist; the IMD forecast, saying that the maximum temperature would settle only around 18 degrees Celsius.
