According to IMD, there was very dense fog in the morning in different parts of Eastern Uttar Pradesh, Eastern Rajasthan, Western Madhya Pradesh and Bihar.
Weather Update: People are troubled by the severe cold throughout North, Central and Eastern India. There was a thick layer of fog on Wednesday, due to which the visibility level was reduced. The weather department has predicted that the cold will continue for the next few days. People in Delhi had to face bone-chilling cold on Wednesday. The maximum temperature here was recorded at 15.7 degrees Celsius, four degrees below normal. Visibility was recorded at 200 meters at 8.30 am at Delhi’s main meteorological center Safdarjung. While the minimum temperature was recorded at 7.3 degrees Celsius, which is lower than the average temperature of this season.
Fog conditions observed (at 2330 hours IST of today): Very Dense fog in isolated pockets of West Uttar Pradesh; Dense Fog in isolated pockets of Tripura and Shallow Fog in isolated pockets of Haryana-Chandigarh-Delhi, East Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Madhya Pradesh. pic.twitter.com/ZaKXuQXMC3
— India Meteorological Department (@Indiametdept) January 3, 2024
Effect of fog on train service
According to Indian Railways, 26 trains coming to Delhi were delayed by one to six hours due to fog. Kuldeep Srivastava, scientist and head of the Regional Weather Forecasting Centre, said, “The temperature in Delhi will remain stable in the next two days, while in some areas it may fall to around six or 7.5 degrees Celsius. Srivastava said that the first ten days of January are considered the coldest, but compared to last year, this year it is relatively warm. An India Meteorological Department (IMD) official told PTI, “The minimum temperature has not yet dropped by two or three degrees compared to previous years, when it used to happen for one or two days. ”The humidity level on Wednesday was between 75 percent to 100 percent.
Anantnag is the coldest in Kashmir
People in the Kashmir Valley got no respite from the dry weather and cold wave conditions as the minimum temperature remained several degrees below the freezing point. Anantnag city was the coldest place in Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday night, with the mercury remaining more than seven degrees below the freezing point. Pahalgam in South Kashmir’s Anantnag district recorded a minimum temperature of minus 6.6 degrees Celsius, down from minus 6.2 degrees Celsius the previous night.
The minimum temperature in North Kashmir’s popular tourist destination Gulmarg was minus 3.8 degrees Celsius, in Qazigund it was minus 4.6 degrees Celsius, in Kokernag town it was minus 3.2 degrees Celsius while in Kupwara it was minus 5.3 degrees Celsius.
Kashmir in the grip of ‘Chillai-Kalan’
Kashmir is currently in the grip of ‘Chillai-Kalan’. This is a period of severe winter of 40 days. During this time, cold wave prevails in the area and the temperature drops extremely low, due to which water in the reservoirs including the famous Dal Lake freezes. Many parts of the valley face this situation. The probability of snowfall is highest during this period and the higher altitude areas also experience heavy snowfall. Chillai-Kalan will end on January 31. ‘Chillai-Kalan’ starts from 21st December and will end on 31st January. After this, there is a period of 20 days of ‘Chillai-Khurd’ (mild cold) and 10 days of ‘Chillai-Bachha’ (mild cold) in Kashmir. During this period the cold wave continues.
Night temperature in Sikar three degrees Celsius
The severe cold has reduced in many areas of Rajasthan including Bikaner, Ganganagar, Hanumangarh, Sikar and Phalodi. The weather department said that the night temperature was recorded at 3 degrees Celsius in Sikar and 3.9 degrees Celsius in Sirohi. The temperature was 4.2 degrees Celsius in Bikaner and Fatehpur, 4.4 degrees Celsius in Phalodi, 5.6 degrees Celsius in Pilani, 5.7 degrees Celsius in Alwar and 5.2 degrees Celsius in Karauli. The minimum temperature in the capital Jaipur was recorded at 5.7 degrees Celsius. In Ganganagar and Hanumangarh districts of Rajasthan, the maximum temperature also fell by about 11 degrees.
Cold weather continues in many parts of Punjab and Haryana, places like Narnaul and Gurdaspur are in the grip of severe cold. According to the weather report of the Meteorological Department, the minimum temperature in Narnaul, Haryana was recorded at 4.5 degrees Celsius.