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Possibility of cold day conditions across Delhi on the first day of the new year
Shallow fog in Delhi as air quality improves but remains 'very poor'. Maximum temperature recorded at 15.9 degrees Celsius, lowest this season.
New Delhi: Shallow fog was recorded in parts of the capital on Monday morning even as air quality improved but remained in the ‘very poor’ category. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) said a layer of fog would persist over the city through the day at upper levels of the atmosphere with chances of a ‘cold day’ possible.
The capital shivered on the last day of the year, recording a day-time maximum temperature of 15.9 degrees Celsius – four notches below normal and the lowest so far this season. The previous lowest had been 19.8 degrees Celsius, on Friday. The maximum is forecast to hover around 16 degrees Celsius today.
The IMD classifies it as a ‘cold’ day when the maximum temperature is 4.5 degrees or more below normal with the minimum also being below 10 degrees Celsius. While the first criteria was met at several stations on Sunday, Delhi’s minimum temperature had been above 10 degrees Celsius on all stations, meaning the IMD did not officially classify it as a ‘cold day’. Safdarjung area, which is seen as a marker for Delhi’s weather, recorded a minimum temperature of 11.7 degrees Celsius – five degrees above normal and it was as high as 13.5 degrees Celsius at Pusa.
The maximum temperature was recorded at 15.9 degrees Celsius at Safdarjung, 16.1 degrees at Palam, 14.6 degrees at the Ridge, 15.0 at Narela and 13.3 degrees Celsius at Mayur Vihar.
Such a narrow difference between both maximum and minimum temperature meant there was barely any respite from the cold through the day. In Mayur Vihar, the difference between day-time and night-time temperature was just 1.4 degrees Celsius, with the minimum being recorded at 11.9 degrees Celsius.
Also Read: Max temp lowest of season, Delhi shivers
Kuldeep Srivastava, scientist at IMD, said such a phenomenon is seen when upper-level fog is recorded – a phenomenon common during late December and early January.
“Surface level fog was not as intense, with the lowest visibility recorded at 500 metres. However, a layer of fog persisted at the upper-levels stretching from Punjab, covering Rajasthan, Delhi, UP and stretching all the way to Bihar,” he said, stating in the absence of sunlight and with cold northwesterly winds blowing, the feel of cold is exacerbated.
On Monday, Delhi’s minimum temperature was recorded at 10.1 degrees Celsius, which is three degrees above normal.
Meanwhile, Delhi’s air quality improved but remained in the ‘very poor’ category. Delhi’s 24-hour average air quality index (AQI) was 356 (very poor) at 9 am. It was 382 at 4 pm on Sunday.
According to forecast, the city’s AQI is likely to remain ‘very poor’ until January 3 now.
