Delhi: Dense fog likely to continue today

NEW DELHI: Delhi’s air quality remained in the ‘severe’ range on Saturday with an overall Air Quality Index (AQI) of 418, according to CPCB’s daily index. Dense fog impacted flight and rail operations in the early hours.
Over 100 flights were delayed at Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport in the morning, with 46 diversions recorded on Friday till midnight, airport officials said.Met officials said parts of Delhi also recorded a drizzle on Friday night. Dense fog is likely to continue on Sunday.
Track the pollution level in your city
According to Met officials, visibility fell to around 100 metre at Palam at 8.30am, while it fell to around 200 metre at Safdarjung. Delhi airport said CAT-III A and CAT-III B operations were initiated in the early hours, which impacted flights that were not compliant. Airport officials said no flights were cancelled or diverted in the morning with arrivals and departures taking place. However flights were delayed due to low visibility.
“While flight departures and arrivals continue at IGI airport, flights that are not CAT IIIA/CAT IIIB compliant may get affected. For further assistance, get in touch with the airline concerned. We regret the inconvenience caused to the flier,” said the airport in a tweet at 8.30am.
The airport, however, informed that visibility had improved to 700 metre by 11.30 am in a subsequent tweet. Earlier on Friday, flight operations were impacted severely with dense fog occurring both in the morning as well as evening. Over 300 flights were delayed, while 19 were cancelled.
Kuldeep Srivastava, scientist at India Meteorological Department, said the minimum temperature is likely to fall in the next few days and could touch 5 degrees Celsius by December 26. “We will also see a spell of dense fog on Sunday and while wind speed may pick up on Monday, reducing the fog density, we will again see a return of dense fog on Tuesday and Wednesday. Cold winds are also impacting the region and will force a drop in minimum temperature by 3-4 degrees in the next few days,” he said.
Delhi’s maximum temperature continued to stay below the normal mark and was recorded 18 degrees Celsius – three notches below normal. The minimum temperature was 9.5 degrees Celsius – one degree above normal.
The System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR) said while wind speed may pick up on Sunday, a decrease in minimum temperature is also forecast with conditions ‘highly’ favourable for dense fog formation in the next two days. “AQI is likely to improve to the higher end of the ‘very poor’ category due to wind speed picking up,” SAFAR said.