Delhiites can enjoy warm days till 25 Dec, says MeT

Delhiites can enjoy warm days till 25 Dec, says MeT New Delhi: Winter and fog is delayed this season, thanks to formation of three cyclones -- Helen, Lehar and Madi - which hit Indian coasts recently. Delhiites can enjoy bright sunny days till 25 December, as the winds blowing across northern India have swept away moisture in the air which causes formation of fog. ‘Major dense fog spell, which normally starts developing across Indo-Gangetic plains covering various parts of Pakistan - northern Indian Plains - Bangladesh including Delhi by mid December in most years in recent past, may not start this December before Christmas.

Hence, there may not be any major threat of fog disrupting aviation and rail traffic,’ a senior MeT official said.

According to RK Jenamani, airport MeT officer, shallow to moderate fog begins to form in most stations in the region including Delhi during the first 10 days of December. It gets intensified by mid-December into dense fog and covers a large part of the Indo-Gangetic region. Also, the region normally experiences low day temperature of 15 to 20 degree Celsius as it does not get much sunlight. Last year, fog started from Bihar and covered the whole plain within a span of 12 days, which also brought down the day temperature to 12 to 20 degrees Celsius.

‘But, there have been no incidences of such large-scale fog formation this year till date. Such delay in winter and fog has been mainly because of unusual formations of three consecutive severe cyclones -- Helen, Lehar and Madi during this period in eastern parts of India over the Bay of Bengal.

‘This caused the Western Disturbance (WD) not to affect the northern plains and forced stronger westerly winds to blow across this area.

‘It was also the reason why winter has been delayed and we still continue to get bright clear sky and high day temperature and no fog,’ Jenamani said.