A dense fog blanketed Delhi and the National Capital Region in the early hours of Monday and dipped visibility to 50 metres in Safdarjung and Palam even as light rain was expected on Monday night and the early hours of Tuesday.
An India Meteorological Department (IMD) official said the visibility dropped from 500 metres at 3:30am to 50 metres by 4:30am at Palam before it began to improve from 6am. No flights were diverted or cancelled. Some flight delays were reported at the Delhi airport.
The minimum temperature dropped to 10.2°C, two degrees above normal, compared to 11.8°C a day earlier. The IMD said mostly cloudy skies were expected on Monday and the maximum temperature was likely to hover between 21-23°C. On Sunday, the mercury rose to 22.8°C.
Delhi’s air quality improved marginally but remained in the “very poor” category. The average Air Quality Index (AQI) was 306 (very poor) at 9am, compared to 326 (very poor) at 4pm on Sunday. The AQI was expected to improve following rain.