Sunny Day Brings Respite to Delhiites After City Wakes Up to Season's Coldest Morning

A foggy and cold morning gave way to a sunny day in the national capital on Monday, bringing slight relief to Delhiites who woke up to the season’s coldest morning with a minimum temperature of 3.3 degrees Celsius. Five flights were diverted at the Delhi airport early morning due to bad weather, according to an official. Four flights were diverted to Jaipur and one to Ahmedabad between 1 am and 5 am, the official said.

According to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) data, the overall Air Quality Index (AQI) at 4 pm on Monday stood at 359 in the ’very poor’ category, an improvement from 447 in the ’severe’ category noted on Sunday. The city continued to reel under cold conditions this morning with the season’s lowest minimum temperature of 3.3 degrees Celsius, four notches below the average. A thick layer of fog was seen in several parts of the city, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.

However, owing to the the bright sunshine in the afternoon, the mercury reached a high of 19.7 degrees Celsius, normal for this time of the year, the IMD said. Humidity levels oscillated between 43 per cent and 100 per cent, it added. On Sunday, the minimum temperature was recorded at 3.5 degrees Celsius. Ten flights were diverted and some were cancelled as the airport operations were significantly impacted due to low visibility conditions and dense fog. This was a marginal dip from Saturday’s 3.6 degree Celsius and Friday’s 3.9 degrees Celsius — both of which were the season’s lowest on the day, according to weather officials.

The IMD has predicted partly cloudy sky for Tuesday along with the possibility of dense to very dense fog in the morning. Cold wave conditions will prevail at one or two places. The maximum and minimum temperatures are expected to settle around 21 degrees Celsius and four degrees Celsius respectively.

Delhi’s AQI showed a marginal improvement from the previous day as the 24-hour reading was recorded at 359. It was 382 at 10 am, according to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) data. An AQI between zero and 50 is considered ’good’, 51 and 100 ’satisfactory’, 101 and 200 ’moderate’, 201 and 300 ’poor’, 301 and 400 ’very poor’, and 401 and 500 ’severe’.

The air quality is likely to be in the ’very poor’ category from Tuesday to Thursday, CPCB’s forecast shows.