Cold wave conditions likely over next 4 days; AQI turns 'severe'

New Delhi: Cold wave conditions are predicted in parts of Delhi over the next four days as the minimum temperature is expected to drop to three to four degrees Celsius, the India Meteorological Department said on Tuesday.

Moderate to dense fog is also expected during the period, it said.

The Safdarjung Observatory, which provides representative data for the city, recorded a minimum of 5.3 degrees Celsius and a maximum of 23.9 degrees Celsius on Tuesday, the IMD said.

The observatory had recorded a minimum of 3.4 degrees Celsius on Sunday, the lowest this season so far.

The minimum temperature had increased slightly to 5.5 degrees Celsius on Monday under the influence of a fresh Western Disturbance (WD) affecting the upper reaches of the Himalayas.

The maximum temperature settled at 23.5 degrees Celsius, two notches more than normal.

After the WD withdraws on Tuesday, the temperatures are expected to drop again, Mahesh Palawat, an expert at Skymet Weather, a private forecasting agency, said.

According to the IMD, very dense fog is when visibility is between 0 and 50 meters, 51 and 200 is dense, 201 and 500 moderate, and 501 and 1,000 shallow.

Meanwhile, Delhi's air quality turned "severe" on Tuesday with slow wind speed and low temperature allowing accumulation of pollutants, according to weather department officials.

The air quality is likely to remain "severe" on Wednesday too. No major improvement is predicted till December 26, Kuldeep Srivastava, the head of the India Meteorological Department's regional forecasting centre, said.

Air pollution in the neighbouring cities of Faridabad (407), Ghaziabad (468), Greater Noida (458) and Noida (450) also entered the "severe" zone.