Delhi recorded a temperature of 4 degree Celsius on Thursday which was coldest in last four years and Shimla was shivering at 6 degree Celsius. India Meteorological Department (IMD) officials said, ‘This is the first cold wave of the season, making Delhi colder than Shimla, Nainital and London. In Gurugram, the minimum temperature dropped to 1.8°C.’
BP Yadav, Deputy Director General of IMD said, “This is a cold wave. The minimum temperature was four degrees below normal. It is likely to remain around 4°C till Saturday. Cold wave conditions will continue till then.”
According to Kuldeep Srivastava, Head of Regional Weather Forecasting Centre, “A clear sky and north-westerly winds that are bringing in the chill from hilly region of north India are pushing down the mercury level.”
Whereas, some parts of Rajasthan, Punjab and Haryana could experience ‘severe cold wave’ on Friday- a condition in which the temperature could drop below 2°C. There were also reports of ‘ground frost’ from Haryana, Punjab and Rajasthan, an indicator that the temperature close to the ground dropped below the freezing point.
The temperature at the thermometer level, placed around five feet above the ground, is normally 4-5°C higher than the ground level. Ground frost in north India is harmful for winter crops. The maximum temperature recorded during the day at Safdarjung was 22.3 degrees Celsius, which was normal.
Local conditions such as open spaces, greenery and pollution levels play important roles in determining the weather conditions. Delhi has high relative humidity in the air and a dip in temperature. It is also recording moderate to shallow fog early morning which is followed by haze during the day. Chances of dense or very dense fog are less for the next three to four days.
According to IMD data, the temperature hasn’t dropped below five degrees in the last three years. It was on December 28, 2014, that the low was recorded at 2.6°C.
AQI:
However, with the dip in temperature, the air quality also deteriorated. The overall Air Quality Index (AQI) value of Delhi was 370 on Thursday which is considered ‘very poor’.
Areas like Narela, Wazirpur, Mundka and DTU hit 400+ ‘severe’ levels of pollution.
As per, CPCB data, the overall air quality index (AQI) of the national Capital stood at 349, which falls in the 'very poor' category. An AQI between100-200 comes under the 'moderate' category, 201 and 300 is considered 'poor', 301 and 400 'very poor', while that between 401 and 500 is 'severe'.
Railways:
Due to adverse weather conditions and operational constraints, the railway schedule is going up-side down. Till now 12 trains have been cancelled and others are behind the schedule. Two others were diverted via alternative routes.
Railway officials said the pair of 12241/42 Chandigarh-Amritsar-Chandigarh Intercity Express, pair of 14673/74 Jaynagar-Amritsar-Jaynagar Shaheed Express, pair of 15209/10 Saharsa-Amritsar-Saharsa Jansea Express, 12332 Jammu Tawi-Howrah Himgiri Express, 12716 Amritsar-Nanded Sachkhand Express, 13050 Amritsar-Howrah Express, 13307 Dhanbad-Firozepur Ganga Sutlej Express, 14501 Bathinda-Jammu Tawi Express and 19611 Ajmer-Amritsar Express were cancelled for the day.
Two trains – 14612 Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra-Ghazipur City and 22430 Pathankot-Delhi Superfast Express — were diverted via alternative routes between Ludhiana and Ambala Cantt.
