Delhi has coldest Xmas in 5 yrs
Met department predicts ground frost; dense fog to hit air, rail traffic
Delhiites woke up to the coldest Christmas in five years, which may lead to the appearance of ground frost in nearby areas in the next two days.
The minimum temperature dropped to 2.9 degrees Celsius on Sunday, five degrees below normal, marking it as the coldest day of the season, after Saturday which recorded a minimum temperature of 3.3 degrees Celsius.
There may not be any respite soon with the weathermen forecasting ground frost in the capital’s vicinity and return of the intense morning fog around December 28-29.
Ground frost might occur over parts of Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, north Rajasthan and west Uttar Pradesh in the next two days, said an Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) official.
An independent weather scientist, however, felt that to have a wide-scale ground frost the overall temperature needs to fall down around 1 degree Celsius, which does not seem to be the case at the moment even though Churu in Rajasthan plains recorded minus 1.4 degrees Celsius on Saturday and the temperature in Agra nosedived to 1.4 degrees on Sunday. Three more died on Sunday in cold-related incidents in UP, taking the statewide toll to 91.
“Frost might be seen on the leaves of small plants and shrubs and in large open spaces,” he told Deccan Herald indicating that minimum temperature might drop to 2 degrees Celsius on Monday if cold winds from the north continued.
Sunday was the coldest Christmas in the last five years, in which Delhiites had to brave the chill to attend the midnight mass.
Last year, the minimum temperature on Christmas Day was 7 degrees Celsius. Delhi recorded the lowest minimum temperature for December at 1.1 degree Celsius in 1945.
The IMD said Monday morning would be cold but the day would have a clear sky chilling down the capital further. Delhi in the last decade has witnessed less than one degree temperature just once.
While fog is not expected to play spoilsport with scheduled flights in Indira Gandhi International airport on Monday, dense fog might return by the middle of the next week to throw the aviation traffic out of gear.
“There is already depression in the Tamil Nadu coast. Easterly winds can bring it to the North, creating dense fog. We are anticipating it to happen by Wednesday-Thursday (around December 28-29),” said R K Jenamani, met officer at the IGI.
With 950 daily flights from the capital, if the airport has to be closed till 11-11:30 am, it would severely disrupt the air traffic, he said. Such intense fog occurs two-three times every season. Return of the intense fog will interrupt the railway traffic as well, though fog would push up the temperature a notch.
Several long-distance trains were running behind schedule with at least seven of them, including Jalianwala Bagh Express, Patna-bound Jansadharan Express and Poorvottar Sampark Kranti Express, running late by more than 24 hours. Railway passengers are unlikely to get any respite from train delays on these stretches over the next few days, said a Northern Railway official.
