Northern India wakes up to a chilly and foggy Christmas

Normal life continued to be affected across North India, thanks to the intense cold wave, coupled with dense fog.

Hilly regions of Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh reeled under temperatures below the freezing point, while dense fog in the plains caused low visibility affecting flight operations and delaying around 100 trains.

Dense fog conditions in the national capital hit train and flight services on Thursday.
The city recorded the maximum temperature at 16 degrees Celsius, six notches below normal.

The minimum settled at 6 degree Celsius, two notches below normal.

The maximum humidity recorded was 97 per cent and the minimum at 58 per cent.
Eight flights were delayed at the IGIA on Christmas due to low visibility. The visibility at the airport varied between 200-300 metres from 5 am till 9 am.

The visibility climbed over 500 m only around 9:30 am. Over 180 flights operated during low visibility procedure.

Trains cancelled

Meanwhile, 12 trains were cancelled due to fog conditions, according to a bulletin by the Northern Railways. These included Taj Express, Jalandar Express, Amritsar Express, Udyan Abha Toofan, NDLS Rok Express, Shaheed Express and Gondwana Express.  
Seventy two trains due to arrive in the Capital were running behind schedule.

“The list of trains running late due to fog include Bhopal Express, Tamil Nadu Express, Kolkata Rajdhani, NDLS Duronto Express, SDAH Rajdhani, Shalimar Express among others,” said an official of the Northern Railways.

Thirty three trains to depart from the city were rescheduled.

In Punjab, Amritsar was shivering at 3.2 degrees Celsius.

Three people died in a jeep-truck collision in Punjab’s Gurdaspur district. Police said low visibility caused by fog led to the accident.

Narnaul in Haryana was the coldest place in the state recording a minimum temperature of 3.3 degrees, three notches below normal.

Karnal and Ambala also registered below normal lows of 5.8 degrees and 6.6 degrees Celsius, respectively.