Delhi AQI ‘very poor’; dense fog disrupts air and rail traffic again, over 150 flights delayed

On Sunday, over 500 flights were delayed while at least 107 were cancelled as a thick layer of fog stretched across the northern plains.

Delhi’s air quality stayed ‘very poor’ on Monday, even as dense fog was recorded in the national capital. Visibility dipped to 150 metres at Palam between 7.30am and 8.30am as over 150 flights were delayed at the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport. Several trains were also running late, officials said.

Visuals from Terminal 3 of IGI airport in New Delhi. (Sanjeev Verma/ HT Photo)

On Sunday, over 500 flights were delayed while at least 107 were cancelled as a thick layer of fog stretched across the northern plains. Satellite imagery showed a similar impact on Monday, with visibility dipping to zero at multiple locations in north India.

IMD data showed that between 7.30am and 8.30am, zero visibility was recorded at Amritsar, Bathinda, Halwara, Kanpur, Ayodhya, Bareilly and Jabalpur. It was 50 metres at Lucknow, Jaipur, Varanasi, Gaya, Rourkela and Khajuraho.

“Dense fog was recorded at Palam as visibility touched 150 metres. Fog is impacting Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, west and northern Rajasthan, north Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Jharkhand, west Bengal and Tripura,” said an IMD official.

Officials said the impact of fog and subsequent disruptions is expected to continue till Tuesday due to the impact of a prevailing western disturbance which has brought fresh snowfall to parts of Kashmir, Ladakh and Himachal Pradesh. “As the impact weakens from Wednesday, wind speeds will pick up and fog intensity will reduce,” said the official.

Mahesh Palawat, vice president at private weather forecaster Skymet, said a marginal increase in wind speed was noted on Sunday, which helped improve AQI to an extent. “Winds are expected to increase further from Wednesday,” he said.

Forecasts show Delhi’s air quality is now likely to stay ‘very poor’ till at least December 24. It may subsequently deteriorate to ‘severe’ before New Year’s Eve.

“Delhi’s air quality is likely to be in the ‘very poor’ category from December 22 till December 24. The outlook for the subsequent six days – from December 25 onwards shows the AQI is likely to be between ‘very poor’ and ‘severe’,” said the Early Warning System (EWS) for Delhi – a forecasting model under the ministry of earth sciences.