Dense fog in region affects rail, road, air traffic

257

NEW DELHI: Visibility was severely impacted in several areas of Delhi on Wednesday morning as dense fog engulfed the city in the early hours and minimum temperature was recorded at 7.8 degrees Celsius, a notch above the normal.

An orange alert was issued by the Met department across the city at 8 am as visibility in many parts remained around 50 metres.

Trains are running late and there could be flight delays and cancellations, according to an official.

As per the satellite images taken at 5.15 am, dense to very dense fog conditions prevailed across the national capital.

About 25 trains scheduled for arrival at Delhi railway stations are running late due to fog.

However, the situation may improve after 11 am, according to an official of private weather forecasting agency Skymet.

“Very dense fog engulfed Delhi NCR. Visibility is almost nil at many places. At 0730 hours, Palam has reported 50 metres visibility. Take care and drive carefully. Improvement expected after 11 am,” Skymet official Mahesh Palawat said in a post on X.

“Flight delay and flight cancellation is possible. Dense fog to impact rail, road, air traffic today across Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, UP & north Rajasthan,” he said in another post.

The AQI was recorded in the “very poor” category at 383, up from 374 recorded at 9.05 am on Tuesday.

Four flights were diverted at the Delhi airport on Wednesday due to bad weather, according to an official. 

The official said three flights of SpiceJet and one of Air India were diverted to Jaipur between 9 am and noon.