Fog in north, northeast India causes train delays, flight cancellations

New Delhi: Dense fog affected visibility in parts of north and northeast India on Thursday, heavily impacting road, rail and air traffic in the region with the India Meteorological Department (IMD) predicting similar conditions for the next five days.

According to officials, 18 Delhi-bound trains were delayed by up to six hours due to foggy weather. Ranchi's Birsa Munda Airport saw 14 flight cancellations due to dense fog while four flights were diverted at Delhi's IGI Airport, they said.

While satellite imagery showed some reduction in fog over Bihar and eastern Uttar Pradesh, 'dense' to 'very dense' fog prevailed in parts of Punjab, Haryana, west Rajasthan, Bihar, Delhi, west Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Odisha and Assam, the IMD said.

It also said there was rainfall at a few places in Arunachal Pradesh and parts of West Bengal and isolated places in the northeast, Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry earlier in the day.

In Tamil Nadu, temperatures plummeted in the hilly Nilgiris district, leaving environmental activists worried over the relatively 'unseasonal' cold affecting farming. The mercury fell to 1 degree Celsius at Kanthal and Thalaikuntha in Udhagamandalam, popularly known as Ooty.

The Jharkhand government, meanwhile, announced a change in school timings till January 25 as the state witnesses severe cold conditions. Students from kindergarten to Class 5 will attend school from 10am to 2pm and students of Class 6 to 12 from 9am to 3pm.

Up north, a largely dry and snowless winter continued in Kashmir and cold wave conditions prevailed in Punjab and Haryana. At the same time, the higher reaches of Himachal Pradesh's Shimla district received light snowfall at isolated places.

According to an IMD bulletin, 'dense' to 'very dense' fog and 'cold day' to 'severe cold day' conditions are likely to prevail over north India for the next five days. 'Cold wave to severe cold wave conditions are likely to continue over northwest India for five days,' it said.

In Delhi, the weather department has issued a 'yellow alert' for dense fog over the next two days. The minimum temperature in the city was recorded at 6.6 degrees Celsius and the maximum at 18.6 degrees Celsius.

In Jammu and Kashmir, the cold wave intensified in most parts of the Valley and Srinagar shivered at minus 4.6 degrees Celsius. Qazigund recorded a low of minus 4.2 degrees, the ski resort of Gulmarg minus 4.5 degrees Celsius, Pahalgam minus 5.8 degrees Celsius, Kokernag town minus 0.8 degrees Celsius and Kupwara minus 4.5 degrees Celsius.

A dry and largely snowless winter in Kashmir has resulted in freezing nights and warmer-than-usual days. Kashmir has been going through a prolonged dry spell. A 79 per cent rainfall deficit was recorded for December while there has been no precipitation in most parts of the valley so far in January. There has been no snowfall in most of the plain areas of Kashmir, while the upper reaches have received lesser than usual amounts of snow.

Cold wave conditions prevailed in Punjab and Haryana where the minimum temperatures hovered below normal levels in most parts. Fog enveloped many places, including Amritsar, Patiala, Mohali and Ambala.

In Punjab, Patiala reeled at 3.1 degrees Celsius, Amritsar 3.8 degrees Celsius, Ludhiana 4.6 degrees Celsius, Pathankot 5.1 degrees Celsius, Bathinda 3.6 degrees Celsius, Faridkot 4.2 degrees Celsius and Gurdaspur 6 degrees Celsius.

Chandigarh recorded a low of 5.8 degrees Celsius.

In neighbouring Haryana, Bhiwani recorded a low of 3.7 degrees Celsius, Ambala 5.1 degrees Celsius, Hisar 4.5 degrees Celsius, Karnal 4.4 degrees Celsius, Narnaul 7.2 degrees Celsius, Rohtak 6.2 degrees Celsius and Sirsa 8.2 degrees Celsius.

The higher reaches of Shimla in Himachal Pradesh received light snowfall. Narkanda and Khadrala in the upper Shimla area recorded 5 cm of snow on Wednesday night, while thick fog engulfed Mandi, Sundernagar and Nalagarh on Thursday morning.

The minimum temperature in Sumdo was recorded at minus 5.8 degrees Celsius, Kalpa minus 3.6 degrees Celsius, Narkanda minus 1.2 degrees Celsius, Manali 0.2 degrees Celsius, Bhunter 0.4 degrees Celsius, Mandi 1.1 degrees Celsius, Sundernagar 1.3 degrees Celsius, Solan and Una 2.2 degrees Celsius each and Shimla 3.1 degrees Celsius.

The Shimla meteorological station has warned of dense fog in the lower hills on January 19 and predicted a dry spell in the region till January 24. Rain deficit is at 100 per cent in all 12 districts of the state till date in January.

Many areas of Uttar Pradesh were in the grip of severe cold on Thursday and Moradabad was recorded as the coldest place at a minimum temperature of five degrees Celsius.

A minimum temperature of 5.8 degrees Celsius was recorded in Muzaffarnagar and 6 degrees Celsius each in Meerut and Bijnor.

There was some respite from cold in parts of Rajasthan during the day compared to the last 48 hours as Pilani recorded a low of 4.9 degrees Celsius. On Thursday morning, the minimum temperature was recorded at 4.9 degrees Celsius in Pilani, 5.5 degrees Celsius in Alwar, 5.8 degrees Celsius in Jaipur, 5.7 degrees Celsius in Ganganagar and 6.1 degrees Celsius each in Sirohi, Churu and Jaisalmer.

A spokesperson said there was 'dense' to 'very dense' fog at many places in the state, a cold day was recorded in Bikaner and an extremely cold day was recorded in Ganganagar, Jaisalmer and Pilani.