Dense fog engulfs parts of north India, mercury dips
NEW DELHI: States in the Himalayan foothills stretching from Punjab to Meghalaya recorded dense fog on Sunday, with reduced visibility over the entire region till midday.
This also led to several places in northwest India and the Indo-Gangetic Plains recording very low day temperatures as fog cover blocked the warmth from the sun.
Delhi recorded a ‘cold day’, with the Safdarjung station recording 15.3 degrees C, 5 degrees C below normal; Palam recorded 14.3 degrees C, 5.5 degrees C below normal and Lodhi road 14.4 degrees C, 5.4 degrees C below normal.
“This is the peak fog episode this year as per satellite images. On Saturday, Amritsar, Chandigarh, Delhi, Varanasi, Gaya all airports had recorded zero visibility for some time. Today (Sunday), it was slightly better but still dense. This vast layer of low cloud formation is very specific to the Indo-Gangetic region but this year its occurrence is delayed. The worst fog
episodes have been recorded in El Nino years. La Nina years are associated with clear skies and cold nights but this year too we are seeing such a major fog episode,” said RK Jenamani, senior scientist, national weather forecasting centre. Kuldeep Shrivastava, head, regional weather forecasting centre, said: “This January has been cold. We recorded 1.1 degrees C on January 1. Normally minimum temperatures dip to around 3-4 degrees C. There is a layer of uplifted fog
stretching across the Himalayan foothills. This is mainly because of high relative humidity, slow winds and cold air.” M Mohapatra, director general, IMD, said: “We predicted dense fog. Whenever an intense western disturbance passes, there is a lot of moisture in the air and the air is also cool. These conditions are favourable for fog formation and for development of ‘cold day’ to ‘severe cold day’. Today, there was dense fog in Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.”