City shivers as minimum temperature drops to season’s lowest at 5.2oC

It was a chilly Tuesday morning here, as cold wave gripped the national Capital. The minimum temperature recorded was at 5.2 degrees Celsius, two notches below the season’s average which was also the lowest this season. The mercury dropped by 2.8 degrees in last 24 hours (since Monday) and is expected to drop further. According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the minimum temperature was expected to be 4 degrees Celsius on Wednesday, while the maximum temperature on Tuesday was likely to hover around 17 degrees.

“The sky will remain clear with mist and shallow fog in some isolated places in the morning. The day will be cold and difference between maximum and minimum is set to reduce,” an IMD official said early morning. The Safdarjung observatory, readings of which are considered official figures for the city, recorded a minimum of 5.2 degrees, two notches below the normal, while Lodhi Road had a lower temperature of 3.4 degrees Celsius. The minimum temperature on January 10, 2016 was 13 degrees, while it was 7 degrees Celsius in 2015 and five degrees in 2014. The IMD forecast no rain and predict the cold wave was likely to mallow down from January 13, (Friday) onwards. The visibility at 8.30 am was 1,200 metre at Safdarjung and 250 metre at Palam. The humidity was 97 per cent. 

At least 21 trains were running late and seven cancelled due to dense fog in parts of North India on Tuesday morning, a railway official said. The status of the delayed and cancelled trains was last updated till morning 5 am. According to the Northern Railway official, nine trains were rescheduled. The cancelled trains included New Delhi-Hyderabad Telangana Express, Jammu Tawi- Bhagalpur Amarnath Express, Jaynagar-Amritsar Saryuyamuna Express, New Delhi-Rajgir Shramjivi Express, Kota-Patna Express, New Delhi-Bhubhneswar Rajdhani Express and Amritsar-Kanpur Central Express.

However, flight operations at the IGIA continued uninterrupted.