Dense fog disrupts morning travel in Delhi; flights, trains delayed

Delhi woke up to a fogy morning on Friday with minimum temperature settling at 11.5 degrees Celsius, four degrees above normal but visibility was recorded to be very low.

Delhi woke up to the season’s first fog on Friday morning as low visibility delayed over a hundred flights and forced the Railways to tinker with the schedule of several long-distance trains leaving the city.

According to the India Meteorological Department, the weather forecast for Friday showed partly cloudy skies in Delhi with moderate to dense fog likely to continue into the forenoon. (Arvind Yadav/HT Photo)

Departures at the Indira Gandhi International Airport were suspended for about two hours in the morning and hundreds of passengers were stuck for as long as four hours with visibility between 7.40am and 10.30am dipping way below the 125 metres required for takeoff. Three flights were diverted to nearby airports.

The minimum temperature on Friday morning was at 12 degrees, five above normal. Met officials said the dense fog was due to a combination of high humidity and low wind speed.

“The cloud cover over the city on Thursday made conditions conducive for dense fog. We were expecting it and fog could also be seen on Saturday morning,” said RK Jenamani, director, IGI Airport Met centre.

Railway officials said 56 trains were running late and the scheduled departure times of 19 others have been altered.

“We are updating details on the website and public are being informed through the helpline numbers,” said Neeraj Sharma, chief public relations officer.

Sharma said that no trains were cancelled on Friday.

As the delays piled up, hundreds of disgruntled passengers began tweeting about the hassles they were facing at the airport and airline officials were seen doing their best to pacify them.

“Entire city is enveloped with dense fog. Travel safe Delhi,” Delhi Police tweeted on Friday morning.

The Capital is generally enveloped in a thick sheet of fog for several days in December and January, wreaking havoc on train and flight schedules.

But the city is going through its warmest winter in eight years. The maximum temperature has so far hovered around 23 degree Celsius, quite high for this time of the year.