India Meteorological Department issued a dense fog warning over North-Indian states amid cold weather conditions. Cold wave intensified in the Northern region of the country over the past few days with maximum temperatures hovering below normal limits while night temperatures have also been settling below normal at some places.
Several states are grappling with the problem of low visibility due to dense fog, especially in the morning and night hours which has led to the delay of several flights and trains. On Tuesday, sixteen Delhi-bound trains were running delayed due to weather-related conditions.
IMD forecasted dense fog conditions in the morning hours over Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, and Uttar Pradesh until January 14 while Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Odisha are expected to see similar conditions until tomorrow. Jammu will witness dense fog conditions in the morning hours today.
The weather department issued a Cold Day to Severe Cold Day alert for Haryana, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, and Rajasthan.
Punjab is reeling under the grip of the Cold Wave. On Tuesday, Chandigarh’s maximum temperature was 10.5 degrees Celsius, six notches below normal. Amritsar recorded a maximum temperature of 9.5 degrees Celsius. IMD reported, that Ludhiana recorded a maximum temperature of 10.6 degrees Celsius, Patiala recorded a maximum temperature of 11 degrees Celsius, Pathankot recorded a maximum temperature of 11.2 degrees Celsius, and Bathinda and Faridkot recorded 10 degrees Celsius.
In Haryana, Ambala recorded a maximum temperature of 10.4 degrees Celsius on Tuesday while Hisar registered 12 degrees Celsius. Other places like Karnal recorded 10.6 degrees Celsius, Rohtak recorded 12.2 degrees Celsius and Bhiwani recorded 11.7 degrees Celsius, according to a weather department report.
Himachal Pradesh is experiencing extremely cold conditions as strong velocity icy winds swept the region while Kufri near Shimla received the first traces of snow. Kufri recorded – 0.4 degrees Celsius and a maximum temperature of 5 degrees Celsius. The weather department predicted dry weather conditions in HP until January 15 and cautioned of dense fog conditions.
In Madhya Pradesh’s capital Bhopal dense fog resulted in low visibility on Tuesday. Meteorologist at IMD Bhopal, Ramendra Kumar said, “The fog will continue in the next 24 hours in the state and light rainfall may also occur in Gwalior Chambal division. Narsinghpur recorded the minimum temperature in the state which is 10.4 while the minimum temperature in Bhopal was recorded at 15.6 degrees. The temperature is likely to remain the same in the next 24 hours,” reported ANI. Ramendra Kumar said that the visibility at the Bhopal airport was around 800 metres yesterday. Today morning visibility was around 500 metres due to fog.
He further said, “Currently, shallow to moderate fog is observed in the western Madhya Pradesh, and moderate fog is seen in Gwalior-Chambal divisions. The weather is likely to remain the same for the next two to three days. It will be cold today and also there is a possibility of light rain in the Gwalior Chambal division, after that, the weather will remain dry, and only fog will continue from shallow to moderate and moderate to dense in some parts of the state,” reported ANI. Gwalior with a minimum temperature of 7.9 degrees was the coldest city while other cities that reported low temperatures included Gwalior, Naugaon, Datia, Shivpuri, and Khajuraho.
(With inputs from PTI and ANI)
