110 flights, 25 trains affected as dense fog blankets Delhi, visibility near zero

Flights in and out of Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport faced delays on Wednesday morning as a thick blanket of fog enveloped the Delhi-NCR region. The visibility dropped to almost zero.

Roads across the national capital remained engulfed in fog even at 10 am.

“Delhi Airport is facing delays affecting approximately 110 flights, both (domestic and international) arrivals and departures, due to dense fog,” showed data by Delhi Airport FIDS (Flight Information Display System), reported news agency ANI. 25 trains in Delhi were also running late due to the foggy conditions.

The cold wave conditions continued to prevail in the national capital region as the minimum temperature dropped to 7 degrees Celsius in the city.

Entire North India has been facing a cold wave as temperatures continue to dip in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, and Delhi-NCR.

Delhi is likely to witness a mainly clear sky with dense to very dense fog in many places, the Regional Meteorological Department (RMC) had said.

Visuals from different parts of the city showed commuters plying on roads with their vehicles’ headlights on due to very low visibility.

Exposure to cold waves in the city once again led the homeless towards night shelters. People took refuge in night shelters as levels dipped in the national capital. (Visuals from a night shelter in Ramleela Maidan)

The weather department also released a satellite image showing fog rapidly spreading over Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and North Madhya Pradesh.

As per satellite imagery, a layer of dense fog has been established over parts of northwest India and adjoining central India, including Punjab, Haryana-Chandigarh, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, north Rajasthan, north Madhya Pradesh. Dense to very dense fog conditions are being reported over these regions.

Due to dense fog, the visibility dropped to 50m in Delhi’s Safarjung and 125m in Palam.

Meanwhile, in other parts of the country, the visibility dropped to 0 at Amritsar airport in Punjab, the data at 5.30 am showed.

Similarly, it was recorded at 25m in parts of Uttar Pradesh including Bareilly, Lucknow and Prayagraj. In Rajasthan’s Ganganagar, it was 50m.