Parts of India shiver under blanket of fog and cold wave
IMD forecasts no significant change in minimum temperatures over the next five day
A thick blanket of fog enveloped parts of eastern, northern, and central India on Wednesday, significantly reducing visibility and disrupting travel and daily life. Delhi, in particular, experienced a bone-chilling day with the maximum temperature plummeting four degrees Celsius below normal to a mere 15.7 degrees Celsius.
Visibility in Delhi at 8.30 am was a meager 200 meters, highlighting the intensity of the fog. Safdarjung, the city’s main weather station, recorded a minimum temperature of 7.3 degrees Celsius, also below the seasonal average. This biting cold impacted rail travel, with 26 Delhi-bound trains delayed by up to six hours.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) classifies fog based on visibility: “very dense” (0-50 meters), “dense” (51-200 meters), “moderate” (201-500 meters), and “shallow” (501-1,000 meters). According to the IMD, pockets of east Uttar Pradesh, east Rajasthan, west Madhya Pradesh, and Bihar experienced “very dense” fog in the morning.
Meanwhile, “dense” fog covered parts of west Rajasthan, west Uttar Pradesh, Gangetic West Bengal, Uttarakhand, and Assam. Visibility at 5.30 am was particularly low in Bahraich and Gorakhpur (25 meters each), Bhopal (25 meters), Guna (50 meters), and Purnea (25 meters). Patna fared slightly better with 200 meters visibility. Other notable mentions include Bareilly (50 meters), Jhansi (200 meters), Bikaner, Jaipur, and Ajmer (all 50 meters each).
Minimum temperatures across Punjab, Haryana-Chandigarh-Delhi, west Uttar Pradesh, and Rajasthan ranged from 6-9 degrees Celsius, while east Uttar Pradesh, north Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, and Sikkim saw temperatures between 10-12 degrees Celsius. These are 2-4 degrees above normal in many parts of Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, and Gujarat. The IMD forecasts no significant change in minimum temperatures over the next five days in the rest of north India.
Kashmir remained in the grip of an intense cold wave, with minimum temperatures staying several degrees below the freezing point. Anantnag town took the dubious honor of being the coldest place in Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday night, dipping a frigid seven degrees Celsius below zero. Pahalgam, a base camp for the Amarnath Yatra, recorded a bone-chilling minus 6.6 degrees Celsius, down further from the previous night’s minus 6.2 degrees Celsius.
Other prominent tourist destinations in Kashmir echoed the icy sentiments: Gulmarg with minus 3.8 degrees Celsius, Qazigund with minus 4.6 degrees Celsius, Kokernag with minus 3.2 degrees Celsius, and Kupwara with minus 5.3 degrees Celsius. Kashmir is currently in the throes of “Chilla-i-Kalan,” a 40-day period of harsh winter. This brings severe cold waves, frozen water bodies (including Dal Lake) and disrupted water supply lines in parts of the valley. While this period also sees the highest chance of snowfall, some areas, especially in the higher reaches, have already received heavy snowfalls. Rajasthan, however, witnessed some reprieve from the severe cold in places like Bikaner, Ganganagar, Hanumangarh, Sikar, and Phalodi. Night temperatures ranged from 3 degrees Celsius in Sikar to 3.9 degrees Celsius in Sirohi. Jaipur, the state capital, managed a slightly warmer 5.7 degrees Celsius. However, dense to very dense fog persisted in many parts, and eastern Rajasthan remained in the grip of a cold wave.
Punjab and Haryana also continued to experience chilly weather, with places like Narnaul and Gurdaspur witnessing particularly biting cold. Narnaul recorded a minimum of 4.5 degrees Celsius, while Hisar, Karnal, and Rohtak reported 7.4 degrees Celsius, 7.7 degrees Celsius, and 7.2 degrees Celsius, respectively. Ambala and Chandigarh saw temperatures of 8.8 degrees Celsius and 8.7 degrees Celsius, respectively. In Punjab, Gurdaspur stood out with a bone-chilling 5 degrees Celsius, while Bathinda and Faridkot recorded 6 degrees Celsius and 6.8 degrees Celsius, respectively. Amritsar managed a slightly warmer 8.2 degrees Celsius, and Ludhiana and Patiala hovered around 7.6 degrees Celsius and 8 degrees Celsius, respectively.
