On a day when dense fog engulfs the entire city, not all areas remain equally fogged.
Some areas are foggier than others.
According to experts, the areas, which are close to the city’s green lungs and water bodies are at risk of getting the worst of fog.
This is proved in
the list of most fog-prone areas in Delhi, prepared with a combination of data available at weather stations owned by multiple agencies, including the India Meteorological Department, the National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting and private weather information provider Skymet.
It shows that areas near Yamuna, like Rajghat, trans-Yamuna areas like Mayur Vihar, Shahdara and Noida are worse affected by fog that, say, Connaught Place.
“Water bodies provide additional, constant source of moisture to the wind enabling denser fog formation,” said a senior Met official.
Similarly, Lodhi Road and Safdarjung are foggier than Janak Puri, thanks to the former’s abundant greenery.
For the same reason, Ridge Road, Pusa Road and North Campus are far more fogged.
“Green areas cause something known as locking up of moisture,” said O.P. Sharma, formerly with Indian Air Force, currently chief meteorologist at Skymet. “That’s why fog is denser wherever there is a green patch.”
The map shows that when it’s zero visibility at IGI airport, the visibility at areas like Rajghat, Shahdara, Delhi University, etc, too is zero. “Whereas at areas like Dwarka and Gurgaon, the visibility is usually over 400 meters around the same time,” he said.
At 50 m around the same time, visibility may be slightly higher in terms of numbers near Noida, Pitampura, Safdarjung and the like, but effectively it is as occluded as zero visibility.