E-Paper
Chandigarh: Dense fog for eighth day delays 27 flights
Western Disturbance active in region that may cause rain on Wednesday and Thursday; dense fog to return from Friday
The city continued to be engulfed in dense fog for the eighth consecutive day on Monday that also saw 27 flights being delayed and another being cancelled at Shaheed Bhagat Singh International Airport.
Most of the flights arrive late from source destinations, resulting in delayed departures from Chandigarh, in some cases even six hours.
IndiGo’s Bengaluru to Chandigarh flight that was to arrive here at 7.55 am was cancelled, leading to cancellation of its return journey as well.
The worst affected was airline’s Delhi flight that had a 6.30 am departure but took off at 12.25 pm after a delay of nearly six hours due to a delayed arrival from the national capital.
The Chandigarh-Chennai flight that was to depart at 7.20 am left at 11.49 am. Similarly, the incoming flight from Pune landed at 10.58 am instead of its scheduled time of 6.40 am.
IndiGo’s Chandigarh-Mumbai flight departed at 8.35 am against the scheduled departure of 6.25 am. The airline’s Hyderabad and Lucknow bound flights also took off late at 8.29 am and 8.40 am, instead of 6.20 am and 6.40 am, respectively.
Alliance Air’s Chandigarh-Kullu flight, which was to leave at 8.10 am, left at 12.38 pm, as the incoming flight from Delhi arrived at 12.07 pm instead of scheduled 7.40 am.
The delay of remaining affected flights was cut short considerably during the afternoon as the fog dissipated.
As many as five trains also arrived late at the Chandigarh railway station, including the morning Shatabdi Express that was around 50 minutes late.
Mercury rises to 14.4°C, but relief not to last long
In some relief for residents, the city’s maximum temperature went up from 12.5°C on Sunday to 14.4°C on Monday after a whole week of “severe cold day” conditions.
However, with a Western Disturbance (WD) active in the city, there are chances of light rain on Wednesday and Thursday that may bring back the chilly conditions, as per the India Meteorological Department (IMD).
Though fog formation will be affected during this period, dense fog can be expected again from Friday onwards.
As the day temperature was six degrees below normal, Monday was still a “cold day”, which is declared by the IMD when the maximum temperature is between 4.5 degrees and 6.4 degrees below normal and the minimum temperature drops below 10°C.
A “severe cold day” is declared when the maximum temperature is over 6.5 degrees below normal.
Meanwhile, the minimum temperature went up from 4.5°C on Sunday to 7.7°C on Monday, 2.4 degrees above normal.
Over the next three days, the day temperature will remain between 11°C and 15°C, while the night temperature will hover around 10°C.
