Severe cold, dense fog likely to grip North India for next three days

New Delhi: The meteorological department predicted on Sunday that a cold wave to severe cold wave is quite likely to persist across parts of North India, including the national capital, until Wednesday. According to the India Meteorological Department, the temperature in Delhi-NCR will remain at 3 degrees Celsius today and tomorrow.

According to Indian Railways, up to 13 trains are running late in the Northern Railway zone due to fog.

Meanwhile, in North India, cold wave to severe cold wave conditions are highly likely over many portions of Rajasthan, Punjab and Haryana, Chandigarh, and Delhi through January 17, with isolated pockets of colder weather on January 18. Also read: Schools to reopen from today in several states amid cold waves

Due to the severe cold, the district administration in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, decided to close schools until January 17, and the district administration in Meerut issued the similar decision, although only until class 8. In addition, due to the severe cold and fog in the region, the Union Territory of Chandigarh has prolonged the winter break for students up to the eighth grade. Notably, the IMD has forecast severe fog and reduced visibility over the country's northwest for the next five days.

The meteorological service projected dense to very dense fog over Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, and Bihar during the next five days on Saturday. Minimum temperatures are expected to dip by 2-4 degrees Celsius over northwest and bordering central India over the next two days due to northwesterly winds from the Himalayas over the plains.

The mercury fell to 4.7 degrees Celsius at the Safdarjung Observatory, Delhi's primary weather station.

A cold wave saw the minimum temperature drop to 2.6 degrees Celsius at Jafarpur, 3.8 degrees Celsius at Lodhi Road, 3 degrees Celsius at Ayanagar, and 3.2 degrees Celsius at Ridge in the national capital.The weather bureau said minimum temperatures are likely to fall further by about 2 degrees Celsius over many parts of northwest and central India till January 17-18 and cold wave to severe cold wave conditions are very likely over many parts of Rajasthan, Punjab and Haryana, and Delhi during this period.In the plains, a cold wave is declared if the minimum temperature dips to 4 degrees Celsius or when it is 10 degrees Celsius and 4.5 notches below normal.