Almost 50% fewer foggy days in Jan because of weak El Nino
GURUGRAM: Even as the city saw dense fog on Sunday morning, reducing visibility to 50 metres around 7am, the total number of days with dense fog so far this year has been lower than usual, meteorologists said.
In January, the average number of days with dense fog—when the visibility is between 50 and 200 metres, as per the India Meteorological Department (IMD)—is 19.
January 26, the last Sunday in the month, was only the 11th day when dense fog was witnessed in the Palam—where the meteorological department has a weather monitoring station.
The average number of days with dense fog is based on the IMD’s data since 1981. February usually sees 10 days of dense fog.
Data further shows that this year most days with dense fog were witnessed in the first week of January.
Meanwhile, the IMD has forecast that no fog would be experienced in this mornings throughout this week.
IMD scientists added that this year’s winter was predicted to be ‘less foggy’ than previous years.
“Humid winds in the morning, responsible for dense fog, were largely absent this time because of weak El Nino currents, a phenomenon associated with the warming of the Pacific waters which impacts weather on the Indian subcontinent,” Kuldeep
Srivastava, head of IMD’s regional forecasting centre in Delhi, said.
The average minimum temperature this January was 8°C against the normal of 7.6°C, as recorded at Palam observatory.
On Sunday, the night temperature was 6°C—one degree lower than Saturday’s. The maximum temperature on Sunday rose to 20.5°C from 18°C the previous day.
However, the minimum temperature is expected to rise to 8°C on Monday, and then further to 10°C around Wednesday, the IMD forecast shows.
The maximum temperature is expected to further rise to 21°C by Tuesday, an IMD spokesperson said.