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Cold wave continues to grip Chandigarh for second day in a row
As per India Meteorological Department officials, chances of dense fog, cold wave and cold day conditions will continue in the coming days as well
Even as the minimum temperature improved from 3.2°C on Sunday to 3.6°C on Monday, the city continued to reel under cold wave conditions for the second consecutive day.
Cold wave is declared for this region when the minimum temperature falls below 4°C.
As per India Meteorological Department (IMD) officials, chances of dense fog, cold wave and cold day conditions will continue in the coming days as well.
At 3.6°C, minimum temperature was 3.3 degrees below normal and the second lowest of the season after the previous night.
While visibility stayed on the lower side on Monday and was only 80 metres at 5.30 am, which is considered “dense fog” as per IMD, it got sunny and clear by noon.
As the sun shone bright, the maximum temperature went up from 13.3°C on Sunday to 15.3°C on Monday. But was still 3.1 degrees below normal.
The city remained colder than many hill stations, including Shimla and Dharamshala, as the hills continue to receive more sun than the plains due to the foggy conditions.
Speaking about this, IMD Chandigarh director AK Singh said, “Similar conditions will continue in the coming days due to dense fog and cold temperatures, especially in the morning. Fog is just like a low-level cloud, which forms due to low temperature, and will continue while the temperature stays below normal.”
A fresh Western Disturbance (WD) will affect the region from Tuesday onwards, but it is expected to be feeble and will not lead to any rain.
Orange alert for dense fog, cold wave
IMD has sounded an orange alert for Tuesday for dense fog, cold wave and cold day conditions. Orange alert is the second highest of the four-colour warning system used by IMD, asking people to stay alert and be prepared.
Over the next three days, the maximum temperature will remain between 17°C and 19°C, and the minimum temperature between 4°C and 5°C.
Six flights cancelled, 32 delayed
Dense fog continued to hit flight operations at Shaheed Bhagat Singh International Airport, with six flights getting cancelled and 32 flights, including 16 departures, getting delayed on Monday.
Among the flights getting cancelled, four were to depart for Delhi (2), Hyderabad and Mumbai. Besides, two flights that were to arrive from Pune and Mumbai were also cancelled.
Anticipating foggy weather, three departure flights, including IndiGo’s 6E5261 to Mumbai, 6E2177 to Delhi and 6E867 to Hyderabad, have already been cancelled for Tuesday.
Air quality still poor
The city’s Air Quality Index (AQI) remained in the “poor” category on Monday. The average AQI at 8 pm at the Continuous Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Station (CAAQMS) in Sector 22 was 275 and 215 at the Sector 25 CAAQMS, both in the “poor” bracket.
At the Haryana State Pollution Control Board station in Sector 6, Panchkula, AQI was a much better 91, which is considered “satisfactory”.
