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At 11.4°C, Chandigarh reels under coldest day of season
With day temperature dropping 4.8 degrees below normal, Chandigarh was colder than many hill stations of Himachal Pradesh
The city recorded the coldest day of the season with the maximum temperature falling from 16.2°C on Saturday to 11.4°C on Sunday, 4.8 degrees below normal.
Before this, the maximum temperature had gone down to 11.8°C on January 1. Sunday was also colder than all of January last year, when the maximum temperature had gone down to 11.5°C on January 10. However, in 2022, the maximum temperature had even dropped to 11°C on January 16.
Chandigarh was colder than many hill stations of Himachal Pradesh, where Shimla logged a maximum temperature of 14.8°C, Dharamshala 19.5°C and Solan 18.4°C. In fact, Chandigarh was almost as cold as Kalpa, where the maximum temperature was 11°C.
As per the India Meteorological Department (IMD), “cold day” conditions were also observed in Chandigarh on Sunday after a gap of one week. Some relief from the chilly weather is expected around Tuesday with a fresh Western Disturbance (WD) likely to affect the region.
As per IMD, for this region a “cold day” is declared when the maximum temperature goes between 4.5 and 6.4 degrees below normal and the minimum temperature goes below 10°C.
Two “cold days” and one “severe cold day” have already been recorded this season on December 30 and January 1, and December 31, respectively, when the maximum temperature fell by over 6.5 degrees below normal.
Meanwhile, the minimum temperature rose from 6.5°C on Saturday to 7.6°C on Sunday, 1.1 degree above normal. Over the next three days, the maximum temperature will remain around 14°C and the minimum temperature around 8°C.
Visibility down to 40 metres
Visibility in Chandigarh plunged to 40 metres at 5.30 am, which is categorised as “very dense fog”. It improved to 90 metres at 8.30, still classified as “dense fog”.
Speaking about this, IMD Chandigarh director AK Singh said, “Day temperature depends on fog in the region. Even on Sunday morning, there was very dense fog in the city and the fog cover persisted throughout the day.”
Singh added that it was hard to predict how long the fog will continue, but with a fresh WD, fog formation was likely to get affected.
“There are chances of light rain in the city around Tuesday. Rain should stop the formation of fog and cold day conditions, so clear skies can be expected for a few days. However, higher humidity can also lead to more fog,” he added.
Orange alert for dense fog
An orange alert is in place for the region for dense fog and cold day conditions on Monday as well. However, its intensity is likely to be lesser than Sunday because of the incoming WD. Orange alert is the second highest of the four-level alerts issued by IMD. Under orange alert, residents are advised to stay alert and be prepared.
13 flights cancelled, another 13 delayed
Flight operations at Shaheed Bhagat Singh International Airport continued to remain hit for the third straight day, with 13 flights getting cancelled and 13 more getting delayed due to dense fog.
On Saturday, 13 flights were cancelled and 26 more were delayed due to similar adverse weather conditions, while 14 were cancelled on Friday.
Weekend travel plans of thousands of flyers were disrupted as seven departure flights, including those to Mumbai, Bengaluru, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Pune and Jaipur (2), were cancelled on Sunday.
Similarly, six arrival flights from Mumbai, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Pune, Jaipur and Hyderabad were also cancelled.
In addition to cancellations, eight departing flights to Mumbai (2), Delhi (2), Bengaluru (2), Jaipur and Dubai could not take off on time due to poor visibility.
Then five arriving flights from Mumbai (2), Delhi, Bengaluru and Jaipur also landed behind schedule.
