Zee Media Bureau
New Delhi: Cold wave maintained its grip in north India, with temperatures settling below normal in most parts as fog enveloped the region disrupting air, rail and road traffic.
Dense fog enveloped the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport in Delhi on Sunday night leading to delay in schedule of around 40 flights.
Around 150 domestic and international flights at the IGI airport had been affected earlier in the day due to fog, causing inconvenience to passengers.
The flight operations were suspended after the fog became more dense around 9.30 PM due to which the general visibility was almost nil while the runway visibility was below 50 meters.
Around 40 trains coming towards Delhi were running late while 10 trains were rescheduled due to fog in parts of north India, an official of the Northern Railway said.
Monday will start with shallow fog but the sky will be mainly clear later in the day, said an official of the India Meteorological Department.
The maximum and the minimum temperatures are likely to hover around 16 and 6 degrees Celsius, respectively.
Sunday morning was moderate with the minimum temperature settling a notch above the season`s average at 7.8 degrees Celsius.
According to MeT department, Delhi is witnessing second spell of dense fog since Saturday night.
Kashmir Valley and Ladakh region experienced sub-zero temperatures as cold intensified and mercury plummeted several notches below the freezing point.
Srinagar recorded a minimum temperature of minus 4.2 degrees Celsius, over two degrees down from the previous night`s minus 1.6 degrees Celsius, a MeT official said.
Intense cold wave continued unabated in most parts of Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh with mercury plummeting up to three degrees below normal, adversely affecting normal life.
The minimum temperatures hovered between one to three degrees Celsius below normal in the plains of Punjab and Haryana, the MeT office said.
Several parts of Punjab and Haryana, including Hisar, Amritsar, Patiala, Bathinda, Narnaul, Ludhiana and Rohtak remained engulfed under a thick blanket of fog due to which several trains criss-crossing the region ran hours behind schedule due to low visibility.
Adampur in Punjab was the coldest place with a low of 0.8 degrees Celsius. While Amritsar settled at a low of one degree Celsius, two notches below normal, the minimum temperature at Hisar was 3.4 degrees Celsius, also two notches below normal.
Last night, as mercury plummets zero degree Celsius in the sole hill region Mount Abu in Rajasthan, icicles were a common sight on trees and electric wires. Upper layer of Nakki Lake also showed icy flakes.
