New Delhi: The city woke up to a cool New Year’s morning on Thursday with moderate fog. The air quality was at the upper level of very poor and isolated areas saw a trace of rain, but it was too low to be recorded.The dense to very dense fog that was impacting the region dissipated following light winds, bringing a sigh of relief for the transport sector. No flight got cancelled on Jan 1 against 150 cancellations on Dec 31. Around 500 flights were, however, delayed.
The moderate fog barred the surface from getting direct sunshine, keeping temperatures well below normal. The fog, combined with the prevailing high pollution levels, created a toxic haze of smog, keeping visibility below normal too.The maximum temperature was 17.3 degrees Celsius, two degrees below normal, against 14.2 on Wednesday, which was Delhi’s lowest maximum since Dec 29, 2019 when it was 13.3 degrees Celsius. No station logged cold day conditions.India Meteorological Department has issued an orange alert for Friday, forecasting dense to very dense fog in parts of the city, while a yellow alert is in place for moderate to dense fog on Saturday.Meanwhile, icy-cold northwesterly winds are expected to pick up speed during the day, keeping the maximum temperature between 16 and 18 degrees Celsius. Cold day conditions are unlikely.Weather analysts forecast a sharp dip in minimum temperature from Jan 4. Delhi’s minimum temperature was 10.6 degrees Celsius, four degrees above normal.Delhi’s air quality remained in the higher end of very poor. The 24-hour average air quality index stood at 380 at 4pm against 373 on Wednesday. It is likely to stay very poor in the next few days.Environment minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa said Delhi had achieved measurable strides in air quality in 2025, with a reduction in PM 2.5 and PM10 levels, recording 79 days with AQI below 100 (good/satisfactory); 200 clean air days, the highest since 2018; and surpassing all prior years barring the 2020 Covid year. The Jan-Nov average AQI stood at 187, the best in eight years, with severe days at just eight, the lowest on record.
