Fog duration, intensity in north India significantly reduced: IMD

Fog duration and intensity has significantly reduced in north India, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Wednesday

Fog duration and intensity has significantly reduced in north India as predicted, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Wednesday.

In an official statement, the IMD said, "As forecast, fog duration, intensity and areas it covered, have been significantly reduced today morning across north India including over NCR Delhi."

It further said that the airports in the national capital, Uttar Pradesh, and Chandigarh have seen shallow fog whereas Pathankot, Jammu, and Amritsar will continue to have dense fog today.

Dense fog enveloped Amritsar as cold wave gripped the city. The IMD had predicted a minimum temperature of 6 degree Celcius and a maximum temperature of 15 degree Celcius with fog or mist in Amristar this morning, followed by a partly cloudy sky later.

Dense fog and cold wave conditions continued to sweep the national capital with the city recording a minimum temperature of 7.8 degrees Celsius on Wednesday morning.

According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), cold day conditions are likely to abate over northwest India from Wednesday and then resurge from December 31.

According to Senior Scientist of IMD, RK Jenamani, fresh cold wave conditions shall prevail again from December 31 to January 1, 2023.

"Dense to very dense fog will continue to prevail in the belt. There will be an improvement on Dec 29 because of a western disturbance that will bring fresh snowfall in Jammu and Kashmir, Leh and Himachal Pradesh. There will be drizzle in north Punjab on Dec 29," he added.

From December 28 onwards there will be a significant improvement as the cold wave will go due to western disturbance, stated Jenamani. In Delhi so far, the lowest temp of 4.0 degrees celsius was recorded at Aya Nagar and a cold wave is still prevailing at isolated places.

Amid a cold wave prevailing in parts of northern India, Palam in Delhi recorded a minimum temperature of 7.8 degrees Celsius while Safdarjung recorded a minimum temperature of 8.4 degrees Celsius on Wednesday.

The IMD has predicted that the minimum temperature in the national capital is expected to remain around 7 degrees Celsius throughout the day.

The national capital reeled under a cold wave and foggy conditions, disrupting normal life. A layer of dense fog was observed in the national capital region, reducing the visibility and the speeds of vehicles across the area.

The visibility at Palam was recorded at 500 meters.

Visibility remained low in Punjab, with Amritsar recording visibility of upto 25 metres and Patiala 200. While Bhatinda recorded zero visibility once more.

Haryana too recorded low visibility. While Ambala recorded a low of 200, visibility in Chandigarh was also 200 metres.

Uttar Pradesh's Bareilly recorded 25m and Bahraich recorded 200m. Bihar's Purnea and Odisha's Gopalpur recorded a low of 50m each.

Earlier on Tuesday, IMD predicted "dense to very dense fog very likely to continue over many parts of Haryana, Chandigarh and Delhi".

"Due to prevailing light wind and high moisture in lower tropospheric levels, dense to very dense fog is very likely to continue over many parts of Haryana, Chandigarh and Delhi, West Uttar Pradesh and in isolated pockets over north Rajasthan during the next 24 hours. Its intensity and spread are likely to reduce thereafter," the IMD had said on Tuesday.

Dense fog is very likely over Arunachal Pradesh, Assam and Meghalaya and Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura during the next three days, according to IMD.

Meanwhile, cold day and severe cold day is mainly over south Haryana and West Uttar Pradesh. Day temperatures improved over north Punjab, north Haryana and North Rajasthan. Cold to severe cold waves continue over Punjab, Haryana, North Rajasthan and Delhi, RK Jenamani said.