IMD issues yellow alert for Delhi-NCR; cold wave conditions prevail

In the daily weather updates provided by the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), a ‘yellow alert’ has been issued for Delhi-NCR region on Friday. Some cold wave conditions have also been forecasted along with the presence of dense fog. The weather forecast department has noted the maximum temperature to remain around 17 degrees Celsius whereas the minimum is likely to drop till 3 degrees Celsius in the region.

“Dense to very dense fog reported at isolated pockets of Punjab, Haryana, northwest Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Moderate fog observed at isolated pockets over Chandigarh, Delhi, Sub-Himalayan West Bengal and Sikkim and Tripura,” the IMD said. As the dense fog takes over many parts of Northern India, media reports citing the Chief Public Relations Officer (CPRO) of Northern Railway (NR) claimed that as many as 27 trains were delayed due to low visibility along with other operational reasons.

The minimum temperature recorded in the national capital was recorded at 3.8 degrees Celsius, which is five degrees lesser than what the normal temperature is expected to be for this time. After recording such weather conditions, the met department has issued a yellow alert. IMD said that the foggy conditions will continue to prevail for the next few days across north India and parts of central India.

“Dry northwesterly winds over plains of North India and adjoining parts of central India are likely to prevail during next 3 to 4 days” the IMD said on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the air quality index for Delhi-NCR, which has been bad in the last couple of days, is likely to improve over the next two days. The System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR) said that improvement in wind speed is likely to reduce the air pollution across Delhi-NCR. However, this improvement will only be marginally.