Bright day in Delhi; NCR continues to log cold day

The minimum was 6.1°C — a slight increase from the 4.8°C on Sunday — which meant that cold day conditions abated in Delhi.

A day after icy cold winds swept through Delhi, the Capital on Monday recorded a sunny morning and afternoon, with a maximum temperature of 17.6 degrees Celsius (°C), nearly two notches above the 15.8°C logged the day before, but still three degrees below the normal for this time of the year.

People enjoy the sun at Lodhi Garden on Monday. (Sanchit Khanna/HT Photo)

The minimum was 6.1°C — a slight increase from the 4.8°C on Sunday — which meant that cold day conditions abated in Delhi.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) defines a “cold day” when the maximum is at least 4.5°C below normal, even as the minimum is below 10°C.

However, a few cities in the National Capital Region (NCR) continued to shiver under “cold day” conditions, with Gurugram recording a high of 13.4°C, and Faridabad 12.7°C. The minimum in the two Haryana cities was 6.2°C and 6.9°C respectively.

The sun coming out on Monday meant that Delhi, which was smothered by dense fog for days, got some respite. The city logged only “shallow” fog in the early hours, leading to minimal disruptions to both flights and trains.

However, IMD has issued a yellow alert for Tuesday, forecasting moderate to dense fog across the city and the maximum and minimum to remain in a similar range as Monday.

Read Here: ‘Cold day’ conditions back in city, 160 flights hit by fog

IMD officials said the lowest visibility recorded on Monday was 800 metres at 8.30 am. In comparison, visibility was down to zero for nearly six hours on Sunday, with it remaining below 200 metres for around eight hours – between 2.30 am and 10.30 am.

“There was a minimal impact of surface-level fog on Monday, largely owing to strong winds even at nighttime. The average wind speed was 8km/hr meaning dense fog could not form near the surface. With clear skies prevailing through the day, we expect moderate to dense fog to return on Tuesday,” said Kuldeep Srivastava, scientist at IMD.

Despite cold day conditions abating in the city, Delhi logged its highest-ever peak power demand — 5,816 MW at 10.52 am — for the winter months on Monday. The previous highest-peak power demand for the winter months was on January 19, when it was 5,798 MW. This was the sixth time that the peak power demand crossed last year’s record of 5,526 MW (January 17, 2023).

A large chunk, over 50% of the power demand in winter months, comes from heating devices, including geysers and room heaters.

Delhi’s power discoms, meanwhile, said they were able to meet the peak demand without any power outages. A BSES spokesperson said BRPL and BYPL successfully met their peak power demand of 2,526 MW and 1,209 MW respectively.

Tata Power DDL meanwhile saw a peak power demand of 1,826 MW in its jurisdiction, which too was met without any outages, it said.

To be sure, the power infrastructure in place deals with much higher loads in the summer months. The peak recorded in the city was 7,438 MW on August 22 last year.