Less than normal fog this year; Feb to be kind to flyers too

This winter, the weather gods were kind with the airport witnessing slightly below normal fog. There was utter chaos only on a few days and no prolonged spells of dense fog.

The days are sunny and bright, the wind chill missing and the nights aren’t really biting cold. The winter in the Capital is on its way out and the worst is over for flyers.

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This winter, the weather gods were kind with the airport witnessing slightly below normal fog. There was utter chaos only on a few days and no prolonged spells of dense fog.

Between December and January, the airport saw 80 hours of dense fog, spread over 12 days. The normal standard for the airport is 85 hours of fog over at least 16 days. “The airport saw spells of very dense fog with zero visibility only on four days in December and January,” said RK Jenamani, Director-in-Charge of Indira Gandhi International Airport’s (IGIA) MeT unit. He predicted few days of fog in February but not too many flight disruptions.

“This winter, December was normal and the fog also set in quite late. January saw less than normal fog and there was almost no fog between 1st and 15th this month,” Jenamani said.

“In February, we expect isolated cases of fog for not more than four to five days,” he said. “We have to see the conditions in the first week of February for a more precise forecast but we don’t expect an extensive spell next month like last year,” he said.

Last winter, the airport had witnessed only 50 hours of dense fog in December and January but February more than made up for it.

But Jenamani said the fog trends this year are looking negative and all conditions show that February would have a normal fog spell this year.

“While places in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Bengal saw zero visibility this year, the northwest areas of Delhi, Punjab and Haryana saw a more subdued fog condition,” he said.