New Delhi: Women wearing warm clothes seen at the bank of Yamuna River, during a cold winter morning, in New Delhi, Sunday, Jan. 10, 2021.
Delhi on Wednesday recorded 4.6 degrees Celsius and 3.2 degrees Celsius respectively at Palam and Safdarjung, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said. Dense fog enveloped the city, resulting in very low visibility in several areas. Owing to this, the Delhi Airport initiated low visibility procedures. In a tweet, the Delhi Airport tweeted, "Low visibility procedures are in progress at Delhi Airport. All flight operations are currently normal. For further assistance, please get in touch with the airline concerned. Any inconvenience is deeply regretted."
Meanwhile, the air quality in the national capital too took a plunge and was reported 'very poor' by the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR).
The weather department on Tuesday issued an orange alert for the northern plains, which are also forecast to witness foggy conditions. A large part of the country is set to face intense cold conditions over the next few days, it said.
In the South, meanwhile, isolated heavy to very heavy rainfall is very likely over Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Puducherry and Karaikal over the next two-three days, the India Meteorological Department said in a bulletin.
It said the minimum temperatures are very likely to fall by 2-5 degrees Celsius over most parts of East India, Central India over the next two-three days, while the spell of intense cold can extend beyond that in the Northwest part of the country.
The bulletin said dense to very dense foggy conditions are very likely over isolated places in Northwest India during the next 4-5 days.
With temperatures falling, an orange alert was issued by the IMD for the northern plains with a forecast of a cold wave for the next four days. A similar alert has been sounded for Tamil Nadu and Puducherry with a forecast of heavy rains.
"Cold wave/severe cold wave conditions at some parts are also very likely over Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh and Delhi and in isolated parts over Uttar Pradesh, north Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan during next three days," the IMD said.
The IMD has four colour codes signifying the intensity of weather events. While an orange alert is an indication to be prepared for likely extreme conditions, red is a warning to take action to protect life and property from extremely bad weather.
Green indicates normal conditions and yellow is for keeping a watch for a deterioration in the weather.
