New Delhi: The city recorded its coldest night in three years on Thursday as coldwave conditions continued for the fifth consecutive day. Base station Safdarjung logged a minimum temperature of 2.9 degrees Celsius, 4.5 degrees below the seasonal average, after Wednesday’s 3.8 degrees Celsius. According to IMD, the last colder night in Delhi was on Jan 18, 2023, when the minimum dropped to 2.6 degrees Celsius. Palam recorded a lower minimum of 2.3 degrees Celsius on Thursday, the lowest for the station in 20 years. On Jan 8, 2006, the mercury plunged to 0.3 degrees Celsius. Other stations also reported extreme cold, with Ayanagar at 2.7 degrees Celsius, Lodhi Road at 3.4 and the Ridge at 4.5 . IMD issued a yellow alert for Friday, forecasting a marginal rise in minimum temperatures to 4-6°C. However, isolated coldwave conditions may still occur. Minimum temperatures are expected to rise a little over the weekend.
Dense fog severely reduced visibility on Thursday, disrupting transport operations across the city. Visibility dropped to 50 metres at Palam between 6am and 9am and Safdarjung recorded a minimum visibility of 100 metres around 6am. Flight-tracking website Flightradar24 showed that more than 500 flights were delayed, with average departure delays of about 32 minutes at IGIA. Northern Railway reported delays in over 50 trains.The air quality remained in the higher end of the very poor category, with AQI at 343 against Wednesday’s 353.
