Cold wave to intensify in Delhi with further dip in temperature, fog engulfs city

Delhi, on Sunday, woke up to yet another foggy morning as temperature in the national capital-NCR region continued to dip after record-breaking rainfall on Friday.

The capital’s Safdarjung Observatory reported a minimum temperature of 13 degrees Celsius for today, more than 6 notches above normal. With no further rainfall forecasted for Delhi for this year, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted the minimum temperature to go down to 6 degrees Celsius and 5 degrees Celsius for December 30 and 31 respectively.

Delhi received 41.2 mm of rainfall in a day, breaking a 101-year-old record of receiving the highest single-day rainfall in the city in December. Meanwhile, cold wave conditions are predicted to intensify in Punjab, Rajasthan, Haryana and Chandigarh. The IMD has issued orange alert across several cities in Punjab due to dense fog conditions.

Dense fog alert has also been issued for Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh for both Sunday and Monday during the early morning and late night hours.

On Sunday, Delhi’s air quality declined to the ‘poor’ category range as the AQI stood at 223 at 7 am. The city’s air quality further deteoriated to 230 at 9 am. On Saturday, the 24-hour AQI was in the ‘moderate’ category at 135 at 4 pm.