E-Paper
Lko at 4.4° C colder than Shimla, dense fog grips parts of UP
Dense fog in Uttar Pradesh caused zero visibility in several districts, disrupting flights; temperatures dropped to 4.4°C in Lucknow, the coldest in two years.
Dense fog enveloped most parts of Uttar Pradesh on Saturday morning, bringing the visibility to zero in districts like Kanpur, Ghaziabad, Gorakhpur, Bareilly and Saharanpur, while Lucknow, Varanasi and Prayagraj reported visibility between 50-100 meters as of 6:30 IST, the weatherman said.
The fog cleared only after 9:30 am. Thanks to bright sunshine, the day’s temperature was 20.9 degrees Celsius.
The forecast for Sunday is mainly clear sky becoming partly cloudy sky during day time and shallow fog at night/morning. The maximum and minimum temperature will be around 22 and 7 degrees Celsius, respectively.
For the last few days Lucknow remained colder than Shimla. In the early hours of Saturday, temperature plummeted to 4.4 degrees Celsius that was 3.4 notches below normal. The minimum temperature in Shimla on Saturday was 8.4 degrees, which is four degrees more than Lucknow. In fact, the minimum temperature in Lucknow was hovering around 5 degrees while in Shimla it is much higher, the weatherman said.
At 4.4 degrees, Lucknowites experienced the coldest morning not only of this season but in two years in the month of January. Last year on January 10, the lowest minimum temperature in the state capital was 5.4 degrees and prior to that on January 23, 2024, it was 3.6 degrees Celsius. The all-time lowest night temperature in Lucknow was recorded at -1 on January 31, 1964, the data revealed.
Min temp expected to rise by 3 to 5°C in next 2 days
“Under the influence of a Western Disturbances, an increase of 3 to 5°C in minimum temperatures is expected in the next 48 hours, along with the possibility of dense fog in the mornings,” said Atul Kumar Singh, a senior scientist at Lucknow Met office.
The decline in night temperatures observed over the past few days has stopped, and a slight increase is expected. As a result, the cold wave conditions that prevailed in Western Uttar Pradesh for the past few days have ended, although cold wave conditions were observed last night in Hardoi, Barabanki, and Ballia in Eastern Uttar Pradesh, he said.
Despite the improvement in cold wave conditions, fluctuations in daytime temperatures are likely due to the fog across the state. Although the fog is expected to clear later in the day in most places, leading to pleasant weather, cold conditions are likely to persist from evening until late morning.
A decrease in fog is expected from January 20, and under the influence of another Western Disturbance, rainfall is likely to begin in Western Uttar Pradesh from January 22, extending to the adjoining central parts of the state by January 23. Therefore, a significant improvement in the prevailing cold conditions is expected from January 20.
Barabanki was the coldest in the state at 3.5 degrees C, which was 4.7 degrees below the normal, Hardoi at 3.6 degrees, was 5.2 degrees below normal, Bareilly 4.2 degrees was 4.1 below normal, Muzaffarnagar and Lucknow were at 4.4 degrees C.
3 flights diverted, 5 cancelled
Three inbound flights were unable to land and were diverted to Delhi, while five flights were cancelled and around 30 others operated with significant delays, on Saturday.
According to airport authorities, flights arriving from Ras Al Khaimah (UAE), Riyadh and Mumbai were denied landing clearance due to zero visibility conditions.
Several other flights were also impacted. IndiGo flights arriving from Chandigarh, Ahmedabad and Delhi were cancelled, along with two departing flights from Lucknow to Delhi and Ahmedabad. Flights from Dubai, Jharsuguda and Mumbai arrived hours behind schedule due to the adverse weather.
