Delhi Suffers Coldest December Since 1901 As Temps Plummet

The National Capital on Saturday recorded its coldest day of the season as the minimum temperature plummeted to 2.4 degrees Celsius in the morning, officials said.

Dense fog enveloped the city reducing visibility and affecting air traffic and vehicular movement in the streets.

The mercury fell to its lowest in Delhi this season with the Safdarjung Observatory, whose reading is considered the official marking for the city, recording 2.4 degrees Celsius in the morning.

Other observatories recorded as follows: Palam 3.1 degrees Celsius, Lodhi Road 1.7 degrees Celsius, Aya Nagar 1.9 degrees Celsius, a senior India Meteorological Department official said.

Delhi: Dense fog at Rajpath this morning. Temperature of 2.4°C was recorded in Delhi at 6:10 am, today. pic.twitter.com/mHpEsaaUcj

— ANI (@ANI) December 28, 2019

Due to very dense fog, zero visibility was reported in the Palam Observatory area, which neighbors the city airport. Due to heavy fog on Saturday morning, four flights have been diverted from Delhi airport, said an airport official.

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Cold wave and the severe cold day has been forecast over Delhi-NCR on Saturday, senior meteorologist at IMD, Kuldeep Srivastava said.

Since 1992, the minimum temperature at Safdarjung Observatory was 2.4 degrees Celsius on 30 December 2013 and 2.3 degrees Celsius on 11 December 1996. The all-time record of low is zero degrees on 27 December in 1930, he said.

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.

“The mean maximum temperature for December was less than 20 degrees Celsius only in 1919, 1929, 1961 and 1997,” an official of the India Meteorological Department said.

In December this year, the mean maximum temperature (MMT) till Thursday was 19.85 degrees Celsius. It is expected to dip to 19.15 degrees Celsius by December 31, he said.

Since 14 December most parts of the city have witnessed 13 consecutive “cold days” or a 13-day “cold spell.” The last time such a long cold spell was witnessed was in December 1997.

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