Delhi Experiences Coldest Night in Three Years as Coldwave Persists
New Delhi shivered through its coldest night in three years on Thursday. The intense coldwave gripped the city for the fifth consecutive day. Base station Safdarjung recorded a minimum temperature of 2.9 degrees Celsius. This reading sits 4.5 degrees below the seasonal average.
Historical Temperature Comparisons
The India Meteorological Department confirmed this was Delhi's coldest night since January 18, 2023. On that date, the minimum temperature dropped to 2.6 degrees Celsius. Palam station recorded an even lower minimum of 2.3 degrees Celsius on Thursday. This represents the lowest temperature at Palam in two decades.
Historical records show Delhi experienced far colder conditions on January 8, 2006. The mercury plunged dramatically to 0.3 degrees Celsius that day. Other monitoring stations across the capital reported similarly extreme cold on Thursday. Ayanagar registered 2.7 degrees Celsius, Lodhi Road recorded 3.4 degrees, and the Ridge measured 4.5 degrees.
Weather Forecast and Alerts
The IMD issued a yellow alert for Friday. They forecast a marginal rise in minimum temperatures to 4-6 degrees Celsius. However, isolated coldwave conditions may still occur in some areas. Minimum temperatures should rise slightly over the weekend according to meteorological predictions.
Transport Disruption Due to Dense Fog
Dense fog severely reduced visibility across Delhi on Thursday. This weather phenomenon disrupted transport operations throughout the city. Visibility dropped to just 50 metres at Palam between 6am and 9am. Safdarjung recorded minimum visibility of 100 metres around 6am.
Flight-tracking website Flightradar24 reported significant aviation delays. More than 500 flights experienced delays at Indira Gandhi International Airport. Average departure delays reached approximately 32 minutes. Northern Railway confirmed delays affecting over 50 trains across their network.
Air Quality Conditions
Delhi's air quality remained in the higher end of the very poor category. The Air Quality Index registered at 343 on Thursday. This showed a slight improvement from Wednesday's reading of 353. The persistent cold weather conditions continue to impact pollution dispersion across the region.
