Thick layer of fog engulfs Punjab, Northwest Rajasthan to East Uttar Pradesh; several trains delayed

Fog today, fog, fog layer, fog weather, fog in delhi, fog forecast, fog in punjab, fog in rajasthan, — Image Source : ANI. Thick layer of fog engulfs Punjab, Northwest Rajasthan to East UP; several trains delayed in North India.

Fog today: India Meteorological Department (IMD) today (December 21) predicted the continuation of a dense layer of fog from Punjab and Northwest Rajasthan to East Uttar Pradesh across Haryana.

"INSAT 3D RAPID Satellite imagery shows a continuation of Dense fog layer from Punjab and Northwest Rajasthan to East UP across Haryana. Gray circled cloud patch, over central parts of West UP, is Medium & High clouds associated with middle tropospheric level westerly trough and the fog layer lies below it," IMD tweeted.

"Visibility (meter) recorded at 0530 hrs IST today: Amritsar-25, Bhatinda-0, Ganganagar-25, Ambala-50, Bareilly-25, Bahraich-50, Varanasi-50," IMD added. On Wednesday, several trains were reported running late by a few hours due to poor visibility induced by fog.

According to CPRO Northern Railway, Mau-Anand Vihar Express is running late by 2:30 hours; Puri-New Delhi Purushottam by 4 hours; Gaya-New Delhi Mahabodhi by 4 hours; Malda town- Delhi Jn Farakka by 2:30 hours; Other trains running late are, Ghazipur-Anand Vihar by 4:30 hours; Howrah-New Delhi by 3:30 hours; Kamakhya Delhi Express by 3 hours; Azamgarh-Delhi Kaifiyat Express by 4 hours; Rewa-Anand Vihar Express by 5 hours; Sultanpur-Anand Vihar Express by 3:15; Ayodhya-Delhi Cantt Express by 5 hours; Prayagraj-Meerut City by 3 hours; Banaras-New Delhi Express by 4 hours; Pratapgarh-Delhi Express by 3 hours; Lucknow-New Delhi Mail by 2:30 hours; Muzzafarpur-Anand Vihar Express by 2:30 hours; Varanasi-New Delhi by 2 hours; Katra-New Delhi Express by 1:30 hours.

Delhi weather condition:

Moderate fog cloaked Delhi on Wednesday morning, lowering visibility to 400 metres and affecting road and rail traffic. A railway spokesperson said around 18 trains were running late. Operations at the Delhi airport remained normal, an official said.

However, he said, three flights were returned or diverted to the Delhi airport due to bad weather in Chandigarh, Varanasi and Lucknow on Tuesday night. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) said the Palam airport logged the lowest visibility level of 400 metres at 2:30 am, while it dropped to 500 metres at the Safdarjung airport at 5:30 am. On Tuesday, visibility levels had plunged to 50 metres at both these places.

An IMD official attributed the improvement in visibility to south westerly winds at the middle tropospheric level and a consequent increase in temperatures in the past 24 hours. However, amid low temperatures, high moisture and still winds, a layer of dense to very dense fog persisted over Punjab, Haryana, northwest Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and parts of Uttarakhand. At 5:30 am, visibility levels stood at zero in Bhatinda; 25m in Ganganagar, Amritsar and Bareilly, and 50m in Varanasi, Bahraich and Ambala.

According to the IMD, very dense fog is when visibility is between 0 and 50 metres, 51 and 200 is dense, 201 and 500 moderate, and 501 and 1,000 shallow. The Sadarjung Observatory, the primary weather station in Delhi, recorded a minimum temperature of 7.1 degrees Celsius, a notch below normal. The maximum temperature is likely to settle around 22 degrees Celsius. The minimum and maximum temperatures are likely to drop to five degrees Celsius and 20 degrees Celsius in the next few days.

(With ANI inputs)