delhi

Updated: Jan 22, 2020 09:11 IST

Delhi woke up to dense fog on Wednesday morning, which the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) said is due to reduced wind speed. The temperature on Wednesday morning was 7 degrees Celsius.

The visibility was below 200 metres. Delhi airport officials said that five flights have been diverted due to bad weather, as the pilots were not trained to land under low visibility (CAT III ) conditions.

Twenty-two trains in the northern region are also running late, according to news agency ANI.

The situation is likely to continue till 10 am to 11 am and improve thereafter, the IMD said in a tweet.

Delhi reported dense/very dense fog (visibility: 25-50 meter) at 0530 hrs IST of today and dense/very dense fog likely to continue till 1000-1100 am and improve thereafter.

Dense to very dense fog very likely to affect flight operations and transportation due to poor visibility. — IMD Weather (@IMDWeather) 22 January 2020

The weather department also predicted that a fresh western disturbance is likely to affect western Himalayan region from January 24.

Dense to very dense fog observed over Punjab, north Rajasthan, Haryana & Delhi, East UP and Bihar at 0530 hours IST of today.

Visibility recorded at 0530 hours IST of today (in meters): Patiala, Bikaner, Churu, Hissar, Delhi, Baharaich, Gorakhpur & Patna-25 each; Lucknow-50 — IMD Weather (@IMDWeather) 22 January 2020

The mercury in the national capital rose on Tuesday due to a cloud cover. The city recorded a minimum of 9.2 degrees Celsius, which was two notches more than normal, the IMD said.

However, temperatures are expected to dip in the next two to three days with the commencement of icy winds from the hills on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, calm winds and cloud cover led to an increase in pollution levels on Tuesday. The overall air quality index stood at 364 at 4 pm, up from 269 recorded on Monday.