Delhi wakes up to freezing cold, temperature drops to 1.7 degrees celsius

Delhiites woke up to a bone-chilling weekend on Saturday morning as the national capital recorded a minimum temperature of 1.7 degrees Celsius. Several homeless people took refuge at a night shelter set up in Lodhi Road in Delhi.

New Delhi:With winters intensifying in northern India every day, temperatures in Delhi too have been breaking all records. Delhi witnessed the coldest day of the season on Saturday with the temperature hovering around 1.7 Degrees Celsius at 8.30 a.m. at Lodhi Road, the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) said.

Several homeless people took refuge at a night shelter set up in Lodhi Road in Delhi.

The Meteorological department said that they have recorded 2.4 Degrees Celsius at Safdarjung, 3.1 Degrees Celsius at Palam and 1.9 Degree Celsius at Aya Nagar on Friday morning.

The Meteorological Department said the Delhi-NCR region is expected to record its second-coldest December since 1901.

The officials also said that it was on December 30, 2013, when Delhi's temperature was recorded at 2.4 degrees C at Safdarjung and on December 11, 1996, the temperature was recorded at 2.3 degrees C.

The metrological department also said that it would be the coldest New Year's Eve as they are expecting heavy downpour in the national capital on December 31 and snowfall in the hills in northern India and Kashmir Valley. Dense fog in isolated pockets over Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh and Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, north Rajasthan is very likely.

Due to heavy fog on Saturday morning, four flights have been diverted from Delhi airport, said an airport official.

The official said that the flights are operating at the airport under CAT III B conditions, which means that the runway visual range (RVR) is between 50 metre and 175 metres.

"Four flights have been diverted from the airport till 8.52 am today," the official said.

As far as air quality in Delhi is concerned, the overall AQI was recorded at 351, which falls in the 'very poor' category on Saturday morning, according to SAFAR(System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research).

An AQI between 0-50 is considered 'good', 51-100 'satisfactory', 101-200 'moderate' 201-300 'poor', 301-400 'very poor' and 401-500 'severe'. An AQI above 500 falls in the 'severe plus' category.