Delhi continues to shiver morning as the national capital recorded its coldest day of the season today. At 6.10 am, thetemperature plummeted to 2.4 degrees Celsius, according to India Meteorological Department (IMD).

The national capital is all set to witness the coldest New Year's Eve as heavy downpour is expected in the city, according to the Met department.

The Safdarjung observatory, which provides official figures for Delhi, recorded the lowest temperature of the season at 2.4 degrees Celsius in the morning.

At 8.30 am today, Delhi temperature recorded as 1.7 Degrees Celsius at Lodhi Road, 3.1 Degrees Celsius at Palam and 1.9 Degree Celsius at Aya Nagar, according to IMD officials.

The cold and dense fog pushed the air quality into ‘severe’ zone from the ‘very poor’ category. The air quality plunged to severe with the Air Quality Index (AQI) reading 407 at 7.30 am.

A thick layer of fog wrapped the city in the morning reducing the visibility to less than 150 metres. Spine-chilling cold and dense for reduced the visibility to zero near Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGI) today morning. Several flights have been delayed from the Delhi Airport. Four flights have been diverted to nearby airports due to very poor visibility, said an airport official.

With chilling cold continuing to sweep Delhi-NCR, the region is expected to record its second-coldest December since 1901, the weather department had said on Thursday.

IMD scientists said air quality may deteriorate from December 28-29 due to an increase in fog cover and reduced wind speed. The national capital is likely to experience cold wave and severe cold day conditions till December 29, predicted the weather department.

Source: BBC

BDST: 1541 HRS, DEC 28, 2019

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