On Friday too, Delhiites woke up to a record-breaking 4.2 degrees Celsius. (Image for representation: Reuters)

Delhi woke up to a bone-chilling weekend as the minimum temperature that the city recorded at 6 am on Saturday stood at 2.4 degrees Celsius. Dense fog enveloped the city reducing visibility and affecting air traffic and vehicular movement in the streets.

Mercury fell to its lowest in Delhi this season with the Safdarjung Observatory, whose reading is considered the official marking for the city, recording 2.4 degrees Celsius in the morning.

10.59 am: "Severe cold day/cold day" conditions are predicted till December 29.

10.58 am: Second-coldest December in Delhi-NCR since 1901

With chilling cold continuing to sweep Delhi-NCR, the region is expected to record its second-coldest December since 1901, the weather department had said on Thursday. "The mean maximum temperature for December was less than 20 degrees Celsius only in 1919, 1929, 1961 and 1997," an official of the India Meteorological Department said.

In December this year, the mean maximum temperature (MMT) till Thursday was 19.85 degrees Celsius. It is expected to dip to 19.15 degrees Celsius by December 31, he said.

10.56 am: 24 trains running late due to low visibility

Delhi: 24 trains are also running late due to low visibility https://t.co/XVdHqKmcXZ ANI (@ANI) December 28, 2019

10.53 am: Update from Delhi airport:

Due to heavy fog on Saturday morning, four flights have been diverted from Delhi airport, said an airport official. The official said that the flights are operating at the airport under CAT III B conditions, which means that the runway visual range (RVR) is between 50 metre and 175 metre.

10.30 am: Due to very dense fog, zero visibility was reported in Palam Observatory area, which neighbours the Delhi airport.

10.01 am: Other observatories recording:

Palam 3.1 degrees Celsius, Lodhi Road 1.7 degrees Celsius, Aya Nagar 1.9 degrees Celsius.

Delhi: Dense fog at Rajpath this morning. Temperature of 2.4°C was recorded in Delhi at 6:10 am, today. pic.twitter.com/mHpEsaaUcj ANI (@ANI) December 28, 2019

9.42 am: Dense fog has enveloped Delhi, reducing visibility and affecting air traffic and vehicular movement.

9.15 am: The IMD in its daily weather report said due to persistence of cold northwesterly winds in lower levels over northwest India, and other favourable meteorological conditions, "cold day to severe cold day conditions" in many pockets very likely over Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, north Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh during next 2 days.

8.30 am: The national capital on Saturday recorded its coldest day of the season as the minimum temperature plummeted to 2.4 degrees Celsius in the morning, officials said.

FROZEN FRIDAY

On Friday too, Delhiites woke up to a record-breaking 4.2 degrees Celsius, which was recorded as the season's coldest day. However, today's temperature is set to create a new record. Cold to severe cold wave is likely to engulf parts of North, East and central India over the next two days, the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) had said on Friday.

With the numbing cold continuing to sweep Delhi-NCR, the region is expected to record its second-coldest December since 1901, the weather department said on Thursday.

"The mean maximum temperature for December was less than 20 degrees Celsius only in 1919, 1929, 1961 and 1997," an official of the India Meteorological Department said.



To top it all, a wet spell is likely to hit the northwest and Central parts of the country between December 31 and January 3 and light to moderate rain is also likely over Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Chandigarh, north Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.



"A fresh Western Disturbance is very likely to affect Western Himalayan region from 30th December night onwards. Under its influence, Western Himalayan region (Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand) very likely to experience light/moderate scattered to fairly widespread precipitation from 31st December to 3rd January, 2020 with peak intensity on 2nd January, 2020 with possibility of isolated heavy falls over the region," an IMD weather forecast said.

"Light/moderate isolated to scattered rain/thundershower is also very likely over Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh & Delhi, north Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh during 31st December, 2019 to 2nd January, 2020. Isolated thunderstorm/hailstorm at isolated places is also likely to occur over south Uttar Pradesh, on 1st & 2nd January, 2020," the weather forecast added.