New Delhi: Severe Cold and Low Visibility Affecting Delhi and adjacent areas

NEW DELHI: On Tuesday, the residents of Delhi faced difficult weather conditions as dense fog and extremely cold temperature hampered flight and rail operations. According to India Meteorological Department (IMD), Palam and Safdarjung Airports reported low visibility in the morning with visibilities not exceeding 500 meters. As a result, nearly thirty flights departing from Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) were delayed while seventeen other flights had to be cancelled due to adverse weather circumstances.

The IMD has pointed to a wide-reaching fog cover that is over northern and north-eastern states, causing disruption at airports across Haryana, North Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal. Satellite imagery reveals further patches of fog along India's east coast. The visibility readings taken from various airports indicates very low levels of vision; in some areas there were zero meters recorded. A multitude of locations including Varanasi, Agra, Gwalior Jammu Pathankot Chandigarh Gaya Prayagraj Tejpur Agartala Vijaywada & Bagdogra all had reports indicating that their visibility was as little as between zero-meters up to 100 meters only.

The delays and cancellations at the IGI airport have left passengers feeling frustrated. One traveler recounted, "Originally my flight was set to leave at 8:40 am but got pushed back until 10:30 am because of weather conditions like fog." This continued on from disruptions on Monday that caused five flights to be rerouted while over one hundred experienced setbacks due to severe weather circumstances.

At the same time, about 30 trains were delayed at New Delhi Railway Station because of thick fog and a coldwave. These included major services such as Rani Kamalapati-Hazrat Nizamuddin Vande Bharat and Howrah-Delhi Rajdhani Express. On Tuesday, the minimum temperature in Delhi was measured at 3.5 degrees Celsius – dropping further to this season's lowest point of 3.3°C on Monday. The IMD has released an orange alert for Wednesday and Tuesday in Delhi due to expectations that these harsh weather conditions will continue unabatedly over several days ahead with little immediate respite foreseen likely from Mother Nature anytime soon so people are being advised accordingly by officials who anticipate ongoing dangerousness caused simply through exposure alone if no other cautionary measures taken into account where applicable when venturing outside during this period may be necessary!

According to Kuldeep Srivastava, a scientist working at the IMD, there will be no noteworthy alteration in the weather conditions for the next 48 hours. He predicts that minimum temperatures will remain relatively stable during this period as well. Along with these remarks, he also announced an orange alert has been put into effect due to cold wave situations persisting and warned of dense fog happening early on which could interfere with flights, trains, and road travel being affected by it too.

On Tuesday, the air quality in the national capital declined to a "severe" level with an AQI of 401 recorded in Anand Vihar area by CPCB. Additionally, on Sunday, Commission for Air Quality Management implemented Stage 3 actions as per Graded Response Action Plan aiming at controlling pollution levels.

Several areas, including Sri Ganganagar in Rajasthan, Patiala, Ambala, Chandigarh , Palam and Safdarjung (New Delhi), Bareilly,Lucknow,Bahraich Varanasi Prayagraj and Tezpur witnessed "visibility zero" for the first time this winter season on Monday. The harsh cold waves coupled with dense fog continue to wreak havoc leading to disruptions of travel schedules among commuters traveling from various parts of Delhi who anticipate further disturbances over the next few days.

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