Cold wave in Delhi, AQI ‘severe’; fresh snowfall in Himachal Pradesh: Weather updates

The residents of Delhi once again woke to a foggy morning and bone-chilling cold on Saturday that also affected several rail operations. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecast a partly cloudy sky and moderate fog in the morning, with the minimum temperature to hover around 5 degrees Celsius on Saturday, before rising to 6 degrees Celsius on Sunday and to 8 degrees Celsius by Monday, as a western disturbance approaches the northern plains.

According to news agency ANI, several trains, including Gorakhdham Superfast and New Delhi-Varanasi Vande Bharat Express, were running late, leaving passengers stranded at the New Delhi Railway Station.

"We are going to Agra with family... The trains are running late for 3-4 hours. We are facing problems due to it. An alert or a message for train delay was also not received...," a passenger shared his ordeal with the news agency.

On Friday, the national capital was engulfed by dense fog in the morning, recording a minimum temperature of 4.7 degrees Celsius, four degrees below normal. It was 4.8 degrees Celsius a day earlier. This was Delhi’s lowest minimum on Republic Day in the last three years and the second lowest in the last decade, behind 2021, when it was 2.1 degrees Celsius.

On Friday, the fog delayed around 25 flights at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport and at least 34 trains were delayed by over an hour.

Delhi's air quality

The city's air quality plunged sharply into the deep red zone again on Saturday with with the Air Quality Index (AQI) recorded at 450 in Anand Vihar area as per Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) at 7am. On Friday, a 24-hour air quality index was clocked at 409 (severe) at 4pm, according to CPCB national bulletin.

The two other days when AQI was “severe” this month were January 24 (409) and January 14 (447). It has been “very poor” — between 300 and 400 for 22 days this month — and “poor” — between 200 and 300 on one day.

Snowfall in Himachal Pradesh

Meanwhile, higher reaches of Himachal Pradesh received light snowfall on Friday, ending the prolonged dry spell in some areas. According to the regional meteorological department, light snowfall was received at the north portal of Atal Tunnel in Kullu district, Bharmour and Pangi in Chamba district.

Cold wave warning for Odisha

The weather agency has also issued a cold wave warning in parts of Odisha for the next two days on Friday.

With a cold and dry wind blowing into the state from north-west direction, a few districts in north interior Odisha are likely to experience cold wave conditions during the next two days, PTI quoted Regional Meteorological Centre's senior weather scientist Uma Shakhar Dash as saying.

The IMD issued a 'yellow' warning for the districts of Sundergarh, Jharsuguda, Deogarh, Keonjhar and Angul districts, he said.