New Delhi: The national capital woke up to yet another freezing day as the minimum temperature dropped to 4 degrees Celsius. Flight movement to and from Delhi's Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport remained affected with around 120 flights including international ones getting delayed by several hours.
53 flights were also announced cancelled on Wednesday due to fog and other operational issues. According to the Delhi Airport Flight Information Display System (FIDS) data, the 120 affected flights included 21 international departures, 23 international arrivals, 33 domestic departures, and 43 domestic arrivals.
Apart from the 120 flights affected, a total of 53 flights have been cancelled citing fog and other operational reasons, as per the FIDS data recorded till 8 am on Wednesday. This includes 21 domestic arrivals, 16 domestic departures, 13 international departures, and 3 international arrivals.
A passenger told ANI, "My flight is more than two hours late due to the bad weather. However, we cannot blame anyone. We cannot do anything about it."
"I am travelling to Kerala. My train, Kerala Express, is five hours late from the scheduled time," another passenger told ANI. Meanwhile, the Republic Day parade rehearsal took place at Kartavya Path.
As per the MeT department, fog is considered to be 'shallow' when the visibility stands up to 500 metres. 'Moderate' fog occurs when the visibility remains up to 200 metres. As the visibility is up to 50 metres, the fog is categorised as 'dense'. It is categorised as 'very dense' when the visibility reaches below 50 metres.
Earlier on Monday, visibility was recorded as 'zero for the first time this winter season in Sri Ganganagar in Rajasthan, Patiala, Ambala, Chandigarh, Palam, Safdarjung (New Delhi), Bareilly, Lucknow, Bahraich, Varanasi, Prayagraj, and Tezpur, as per the weather department. Meanwhile, people were seen sitting around bonfires as the city saw a thick blanket of fog.
"We sit around bonfires to protect ourselves from the cold weather. There has been a constant rise in the temperature since the beginning of January," a man named Rahimali told ANI. Several people took refuge in government-run shelter homes to shield themselves from the freezing weather. The night shelters in Delhi are aimed at providing a refuge to homeless people who live on the streets and have nowhere else to go in the cold.
The shelters offer blankets, beds, hot water, and food to those seeking shelter. Meanwhile, India Meteorological Department (IMD) Scientist Soma Sen addressed the prevailing weather conditions in Delhi and North India, highlighting the minimal change expected in the minimum temperature on Tuesday.
"In Delhi and in North India, we are not expecting much change in the minimum temperature. Maybe a one-degree rise is likely because of the sunny skies, but foggy conditions will persist. Low cloud conditions may also continue for the neighbouring regions, because of which Haryana and Punjab will see severe cold day conditions for the next two to three days. We are not expecting any sudden change in either temperature or cold conditions... The intensity of the cold will gradually decrease, which is a seasonal effect," IMD Scientist Soma Sen said.
Despite a gradual decrease in cold intensity, Sen projected ongoing foggy mornings, cold days, and cold wave conditions across the plains for at least the next two days.
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