Dense fog grips Chandigarh, visibility slips below 25m

While visibility had been falling below 1,000 metres earlier as well, Thursday was the first day when Chandigarh also had very dense fog

The city woke up to very dense fog on Thursday morning with visibility falling below 25 metres as per India Meteorological Department (IMD). Chances of dense fog will continue on Friday and Saturday as well, Met officials said.

Scientist at IMD Chandigarh, Shivinder Singh said, “North Westerly winds were active in Chandigarh earlier due to its proximity with the Himalayas. The wind has stopped now so there was dense fog on Thursday.” (Ravi Kumar/HT)

While visibility had been falling below 1,000 metres earlier as well, Thursday was the first day when Chandigarh also had very dense fog.

Scientist at IMD Chandigarh, Shivinder Singh said, “North Westerly winds were active in Chandigarh earlier due to its proximity with the Himalayas. The wind has stopped now so there was dense fog on Thursday.”

As per IMD, fog is called very dense when visibility falls below 50 metres. Between 50 metres and 200 metres, it is classified as dense fog.

Singh added that IMD have issued an orange alert in the city for dense to very dense fog while a red alert has been issued in the adjoining areas. Orange alert is the second highest of the four-colour warning system used by the IMD. It asks people to be prepared.

On Saturday, a fresh western disturbance is likely to affect the city. With partly cloudy weather and some winds expected, fog formation is also likely to get reduced from Sunday morning onwards.

Because of the fog cover, maximum temperature fell from 23.4°C on Wednesday to 19.5°C on Thursday, the lowest this month. The minimum temperature meanwhile increased because of the fog blanket which started covering the city late night. The minimum temperature rose from 8.2°C on Wednesday to 8.8°C on Thursday.

Over the next three days, the maximum temperature will remain around 19°C while the minimum will remain around 10°C.

AQI ‘very poor’

The Air Quality Index (AQI) of the city continued to remain very poor. At 7pm, the average AQI was 318 at the Continuous Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Station (CAAQMS) Sector 22 and 333 at the CAAQMS in Sector 53. It was 162 at CAAQMS in Sector 25 which is considered moderate. Even in Panchkula, AQI was 189 (moderate), as recorded at the Haryana State Pollution Control Board. In the very poor bracket, air can lead to respiratory illness on prolonged exposure.