New Delhi: North India continues to grapple with intense cold as temperatures dip to single digits in multiple states, causing inconvenience to commuters due to dense fog and low visibility during the early hours of Thursday. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) reports ‘very dense fog’ in isolated areas of Punjab, Haryana, West Rajasthan, and Bihar as of 5:30 am on Thursday.
Similar heavy fog was also reported in isolated parts of Delhi, West Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Odisha and Assam while moderate fog was observed in isolated parts of Sub-Himalayan West Bengal and Sikkim, according to IMD.
The Met agency informed further that shallow fog was also experienced in isolated parts of eastern Rajasthan, eastern Uttar Pradesh and western Madhya Pradesh. The IMD also forecast dense to very dense fog for a few hours late night and morning over many parts of Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh between January 18 (Thursday) and 20 and in isolated parts on January 21 and 22.
Further, as per the IMD, a rise in minimum temperatures by about 2 degrees Celsius is very likely over Northwest India over the next 24 hours but there will be no significant change thereafter.
The visibility at 5.30 am on Thursday was recorded below 500 metres. Biting chill and poor visibility were also reported in Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, West Rajasthan, East Rajasthan, West Uttar Pradesh, East Uttar Pradesh, West Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, Sub-Himalayan West Bengal and Assam.
Amid dense fog prevailing in several parts of the country, as many as 18 trains were reported to be running behind schedule in Delhi, according to the Northern Railways. Three trains–Bhubneshwar-New Delhi Rajdhani Express, Ambedkarnagar-Katra and Muzaffarpur-Anandvihar–were delayed by around 3-3.45 hours.
Further, according to the Railways, the Puri-Nizamuddin Purushottam Express is also expected to arrive six hours later because of the fog.Similarly, Rewa-Anand Vihar Express is likely to arrive late by around 4.30 hours and Azamgarh-Delhi Junction Kaifiyat Express was delayed by about 5.30 hours, the Railways informed.
At least nine more trains were running late by around 1-1.15 hours, according to the Railways. These were Jammutawi-New Delhi Rajdhani Express, Banglore-Nizamuddin Rajdhani Express, Pratapgarh MLDP-Delhi, Dehradun-Delhi Junction, Chennai-New Delhi Express, Ferozpur-Mumbai Express, Amritsar-Mumbai Express, Kamakhya-Delhi Junction and Jammutawi-Ajmer Pooja Express. Many passengers were stranded at railway stations and airports as flight and train movement was affected extensively due to fog.
Several flights were also delayed and a few were cancelled due to the prevailing fog. According to IMD data, flight services at the Indira Gandhi International Airport were affected due to dense fog, with visibility reduced to between 50 and 100 metres from 12 am to 6.30 am on Thursday.
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