Delhi wakes up to biting cold after coldest winter morning as mercury hit 2.3°C in Palam; weather forecast here

Delhi woke up to chilly winter morning and shallow fog on Friday amid India Meteorological Department's (IMD) yellow alert for cold wave. For the sixth consecutive day on 16 January, cold wave conditions persist as mercury plunged significantly across the city.

Palam weather station reported 2.3 degrees Celsius minimum temperature on Thursday, followed by Ayanagar where mercury dropped to 2.7 degrees Celsius. Furthermore, Safdarjung, the primary weather station recorded 2.9 degrees Celsius minimum temperature as Lodhi Road logged 3.4 degrees Celsius. In the Safdarjung area, mercury dropped 4.5 degrees below normal.

This marks Safdarjung's lowest minimum temperature in January in three years as the mercury had dropped to 1.4 degrees Celsius on 16 January 2023.

On 15 January, Delhi registered its coldest morning of this season at 2.9 degrees Celsius. IMD predicted, “Mainly clear sky becoming partly cloudy sky towards evening. Cold wave conditions at isolated places. Moderate fog at many places with dense fog at isolated places during morning hours. The maximum and minimum temperatures over Delhi are likely to be in the range of 21°C to 23°C and 04°C to 06°C respectively.”

The weather office suggested that the minimum temperature will be 1.6 to 3 degrees Celsius below normal today and the maximum temperature will 1.6 to 3 degrees Celsius above normal.

Dense fog blanketed capital city on Thursday and disrupted flight operations at Delhi's Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport due to low visibility which was reported to be around 50 metres at 7:00 AM. However, the visibility improved today and was recorded to be around 800 metres at 6:00 AM.