NEW DELHI: Delhi recorded a cold wave for the fifth consecutive day on Monday, making it the longest spell of chill in a decade.Earlier, January in 2013 experienced a similar spell for five straight days. The cold may likely persist with India Meteorological Department predicting cold wave conditions at isolated places on Tuesday.1/20Delhi’s bone-chilling cold in 20 picturesShow Captions<p>Severe cold and dense fog affected flight and train movement in the national capital on Tuesday morning.</p><p>Delhi continues to reel under severe weather, recording its fifth straight day of cold wave.</p><p>The met department expects dense fog to continue till Wednesday.</p><p>The bone-chilling cold spell, which started soon after the New Year’s advent, may extend for one more day.</p><p>Fog and inclement weather affected movement of trains and flights operations in Delhi on Tuesday.</p><p>The five cold-wave days in a row so far are the longest since 2013, when, too, the spell lasted for five days.</p><p>IMD has predicted a relief from cold wave from Tuesday night.</p><p>Safdarjung in Delhi recorded a minimum temperature of 6.4°C at 8.30am on Tuesday morning. </p><p>Delhi has been grappling with some of the coldest days in its history over the last week. The city woke up to another cold and foggy day on Tuesday.</p><p>Palam recorded a minimum temperature of 7.5°C at 8:30 am on Tuesday.</p><p>Early morning fog affected traffic movement in the city on Tuesday.</p><p>Visibility in Palam was recorded at 0 metres at 4.30am.</p><p>Dense to very dense fog was observed over parts of Punjab, Northwest Rajasthan, Jammu division, Haryana, Chandigarh and Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Tripura.</p><p>Northern Railway informed on Tuesday that 36 trains were running late due to fog.</p><p>Delhi also continued to reel under worsening air quality as the overall AQI breached the ‘severe’ category, at 418.</p><p>The AAP government in Delhi has imposed a temporary ban on the plying of BS-III petrol and BS-IV diesel four-wheelers till January 12.</p><p>Satellite images showed a dense layer of fog persisting over vast swathes of north India, extending from Punjab to Bihar across Haryana, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh.</p><p>Chilly weather in Delhi since the start of January strained power grids and posed challenges to homeless people. </p><p>According to the weather office, ‘very dense fog’ is when visibility is between 0 and 50 metres.</p><p>Between 51 and 200 metres is ‘dense’, between 201 and 500 metres ‘moderate’, and between 501 and 1,000 metres ‘shallow’.</p>Meteorology officials said that clear skies and the frigid north-westerly winds caused the temperature to fall drastically. “The absence of cloud cover makes the day warm but dissipation of heat at night is quicker too. This causes a big fall in temperature. As the cold north-westerly winds continue to blow, the city is experiencing very low mercury levels,” explained a Met official.IMD declares a cold wave when the minimum temperature falls four or more notches below the normal or when the minimum temperature is less than four degrees Celsius. A ‘severe’ cold wave is declared when the minimum temperature is less than two degrees Celsius or is 6.5 degrees or more below the normal temperature.The Met official added the cold wave was also because there had been no intense western disturbance in the area. “When a strong western disturbance affects the region, it forces the wind to change directions, leading to a rise in temperature. Under the influence of a western disturbance, there is a rise in moisture and cloudiness. However, no intense western disturbance has been present in the region for the past two months,” said a Met official, adding that a western disturbance seemed likely to influence Delhi from January 6, but it turned feeble before reaching the plains.IMD’s data shows that Safdarjung, which is Delhi’s base weather station, began recording a cold wave from January 5 when the minimum temperature dipped to three degrees Celsius, descending further to 2.2 degrees Celsius on January 7 and touching the season’s lowest at 1.9 degrees on Sunday, making it the coldest January morning in two years and second coldest morning in the past 16 years. The minimum temperature on Monday was 3.8 degrees Celsius. The streak of cold wave days may continue on Tuesday as the Met department has predicted cold wave conditions at isolated places.An analysis of the Met department’s data shows that no cold wave days were recorded in January last year. The city did not have a single cold wave day last December either. However, January 2021 saw six cold wave days while January 2008 had 12 cold wave days. “Cold wave days are mostly reported between December 20 and January 20,” said a Met official.
Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/murky-diaries-city-firmly-in-grip-of-cold-wave/articleshow/96864462.cms