Minimum temperature in Delhi rises to 7 degrees Celsius

Parts of the national capital received light rain on Saturday morning, while the minimum temperature rose to 7 degrees Celsius due to a cloud cover over the city, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.

Clouds trap some of the outgoing infrared radiation and radiate it back downward, warming the ground.

"Moderate" fog lowered visibility to 201 metres at Safdarjung.

According to the IMD, "very dense" fog is when visibility is between 0 and 50 metres. In case of "dense" fog, visibility is between 51 and 200 metres, "moderate" 201 and 500 metres, and "shallow" 501 and 1,000 metres.

"As per our forecast, the impact of a western disturbance has begun over northwest India, including Delhi. Palam has reported 0.4 mm rainfall. Ridge, Ayanagar and Lodi Road recorded traces of rainfall," the IMD said.

The minimum temperature in Delhi is likely to rise to 9 degrees Celsius in the next two to three days under the influence of the western disturbance, it predicted.

On Friday, the mercury plummeted to 1.1 degrees Celsius, the lowest in 15 years for January, and "very dense" fog lowered visibility to "zero" metres.

On January 8, 2006, the city had recorded a minimum of 0.2 degree Celsius. The all-time record is minus 0.6 degree Celsius registered in January 1935.

The lowest minimum temperature recorded in January last year was 2.4 degrees Celsius, the IMD said.

Kuldeep Srivastava, the head of the IMD's regional forecasting centre, said the minimum temperature has started rising under the influence of the "intense" western disturbance, which will affect northwest India till January 6.

Light rain is expected in Delhi over the next two to three days, he added.