PTI
New Delhi
As the year draws to a close, mercury hovered around its wintry lows and normal life was affected across northern states due to foggy conditions, with red alert warning issued in Uttar Pradesh on Saturday.
The national capital experienced its first cold wave of the season, recording its coldest December day this year so far.
The sun was largely obscured by clouds and pollutants lingering in the atmosphere, leading to reduced visibility. At least 129 flights were cancelled at the Delhi airport on Saturday due to dense fog, according to an official.
The hilly state and UT of Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir are set to witness a spell of wet weather, with predictions of rain and snow at several places, according to the local weather departments.
Chillai Kalan begins on December 21 every year and ends on January 31.
A spell of wet weather on December 20-21 in Kashmir is likely to coincide with the yearly phenomenon, while light to moderate precipitation may affect the plains, the weather office said.
Chances of snowfall are maximum and most frequent during this period, with temperatures dropping sharply across the valley.
The valley has not witnessed any major wet spell so far this winter. The dry weather has led to an increase in ailments such as cough and the common cold.
Officials further said the night temperature improved across the valley, with Pulwama emerging as the coldest place with a minimum of minus 3.2 degrees Celsius, according to the Met office.
Srinagar recorded a low of minus 0.4 degrees Celsius, about 2 degrees up from the previous night’s minus 2.1 degrees Celsius, they said.
A thick layer of fog engulfed Srinagar and most other parts of the valley on Saturday morning, especially near the water bodies.
In Himachal Pradesh, the Local Met office issued a yellow warning for dense fog over and around parts of the reservoir area of the Bhakra dam in Bilaspur district and over parts of the Balh valley in Mandi district during early morning.
or in the morning and late night hours.
It also predicted light snow and rain at isolated places in high hills and a few places in middle hills on Sunday and pointed out that a fresh feeble western disturbance is likely to affect the western Himalayan region from December 25.
The weather remained mainly dry over the day, and dense fog was observed in Bilaspur, while shallow fog was seen in Mandi.
There was no significant change in the minimum temperatures, and Kukumseri in the tribal Lahaul and Spiti district was coldest at night with a low of Minus 5.7 degrees followed by Tabo at minus 2.9 degrees Celsius.
The state received zero rainfall against the 20.5 mm of normal rainfall, a deficit of 100 per cent in all 12 districts of Himachal Pradesh in December so far. This, along with the gradual rise in mercury, has caused concern, especially among farmers and orchardists.
The national capital, meanwhile, for the first time this winter, met the ‘cold wave day’ criteria, with two of its five monitoring stations — Safdarjung and Palam — recording cold wave conditions, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD).
While the Safdarjung station recorded a maximum temperature of 16.9 degrees Celsius, 5.3 degrees below the season’s normal, Palam, another key monitoring station, recorded a high of 16.3 degrees Celsius, 5.6 notches below normal.
The IMD declares cold wave conditions when the negative departure from the normal maximum temperature ranges between 4.5 and 6.4 degrees Celsius.
The minimum temperature was recorded at 6.1 degrees Celsius, two notches below normal, the IMD said.
Visibility was severely affected on Saturday morning.
The visibility recorded at Safdarjung at 8.30 am was 200 metres and at Palam 350 metres. It later improved to 400 metres in Safdarjung and 600 metres in Palam at 12.30 pm.
Shallow to moderate fog hovered over most parts of the city throughout the day, with visibility ranging between 400 and 600 metres till 12.30 pm.
The weather department has predicted dense to very dense fog on Sunday and issued an orange alert for the national capital. The maximum and minimum temperatures are expected to settle around 23 degrees Celsius and 9 degrees Celsius, respectively.
Flight operations have been disrupted for the past several days at Delhi and other airports due to dense fog, resulting in low visibility conditions.
An official said at least 66 arrivals and 63 departures have been cancelled.
The air quality in Delhi is likely to remain in the severe category on Sunday and Monday before improving marginally to the very poor category on Tuesday, according to the Air Quality Early Warning System.
The Rajasthan districts for which the orange alert has been issued include Garhwa, Palamu, Latehar, Chatra, Hazaribagh, Koderma, Giridih, Ramgarh, and Bokaro. Early-morning visibility is expected to drop significantly in these districts to less than 50 metres. Very dense fog is likely in these districts until December 22, the IMD bulletin said.
The yellow alert has been issued until December 23. A total of 13 districts are likely to be affected on December 21
