Minimum temperature in Delhi settles at 5°C

People residing in Delhi continue to battle a long lasting cold as they woke up to a bone-chilling Friday morning. The temperature plummeted to 5 Degree Celsius, which is two notches below the season's average, said India Meteorological Department.

Due to cold wave, the air quality index (AQI) of the national capital has reached "poor category" as the presence of moisture have increased the air's capacity to hold particulate matter (PM) for a longer time.

The overall AQI of Delhi was docking at 276 in the morning. At Dhirpur, the AQI was 164 at 10 am, while in Mathura Road area it dipped to the very poor category at 3016. Furthermore, AQI near Pitampura, Airport Terminal 3 and Delhi University stood at 276, 161 and 257 respectively.

Aged and children residing in Delhi have been adviced to reduce prolonged or heavy exertion.

"Take more breaks and do less intense activities. Asthematics, keep medicine ready if symptoms of coughing or shortness of breath occur. Heart patients, see a doctor, if get palpitations, shortness of breath, or unusual fatigue," SAFAR stated in its advisory.

Apart from Delhi, Cold wave continued in most parts of Punjab and Haryana with Adampur being the coldest place at 1.4 degrees Celsius. Dense fog was witnessed at several places in both the states, including Hisar and Ludhiana. Moreover, Amritsar, Ludhiana and Patiala too braved cold weather conditions. Chandigarh recorded a low of 6 degrees Celsius.

In Haryana, Narnaul was the coldest and recorded minimum of 2.5 degrees Celsius, two degrees below normal. Ambala, Hisar, Karnal, Rohtak, Bhiwani and Sirsa experienced cold weather conditions.

In Northeast India, the moderate downpour is likely to continue in a couple of states as a result of movement of significant systems such as depression and cyclone that formed over Bay of Bengal.

"Whenever an active Western Disturbance affects Western Himalayas, it tends to move along the foothills of Himalaya towards Northeast India. As a result, remnants of this system cause rains and snow over northeastern state such as Arunachal Pradesh," Skymet said.