Delhi records coldest Dec day in 119 years
The Indian capital broke the record for its coldest December day in 119 years yesterday as dense fog engulfed the city, causing train and flight delays. At least 500 flights from Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International airport were delayed due to fog and at least eight were cancelled, an airport authority spokesman said.
Dense fog and hazardous air pollution blanketed northern India and disrupted hundreds of flights yesterday, as harsh winter weather sent temperatures plunging to near-record lows.
New Delhi and surrounding parts of the country are regularly shrouded by haze that hits each winter due to build-up of vehicle fumes, industrial emissions and smoke from agricultural fires.
But thick cloud cover caused by the current cold snap has reduced visibility even further, with authorities blaming the weather for delaying more than 500 flights at the capital’s airport.
Weather bureau said Delhi was on course to record its coldest December day since 1901, with a minimum temperature of 2.6 degrees Celsius (35.6 Fahrenheit) early yesterday.
Visibility dropped to zero in several places in the region, according to Skymet Weather, an Indian forecasting company.
Two children were among six people killed when a car drove into a canal in the Delhi suburb of Greater Noida late Sunday, local police official Akhilesh Pradhan said.
“Preliminary investigations indicate the accident took place because of low visibility due to the fog,” Pradhan said.
At least 30 trains to and from the city were running late due to low visibility, a spokesman for Indian Railways said.
Delhi is currently experiencing its longest spell of cold weather in 22 years.
The city recorded its coldest day in the month of December in 119 years yesterday, with one weather station registering a maximum temperature of 9.4 degrees Celsius.
The normal high temperatures for this time of year are around 20 degrees.
The weather office issued a “code red warning” for New Delhi and neighbouring Haryana
state on Sunday, signalling extreme weather conditions.
It urged residents to take precautions and the government to take “necessary action” such as providing night shelters and firewood for homeless people.
Several schools in Delhi and the adjoining regions of Gurgaon and Noida said their primary sections would be closed today, the NDTV news channel reported.
“The rains are expected to relieve severe cold wave conditions and we are expecting a marginal rise in temperature,” said Kuldeep Srivastava, head of IMD’s regional weather forecasting centre in New Delhi.
In the northeastern state of Assam, zoo authorities put heaters in enclosures to protect tigers from the bracing conditions.
“The animals are not used to this and we are taking special measures to keep the animals, particularly the old ones, warm,” Tejas Mariswamy of Assam zoo said.