Thick fog engulfs Delhi, visibility drops to 200 mt

North India was enveloped by dense fog on Monday morning and the conditions are expected to continue for a few days more, according to Indian Meteorological Department (IMD).

"Cold weather combined with the availability of moisture will result in foggy conditions over Northwest India. This dense fog is likely to reduce visibility over Punjab, Haryana, North Rajasthan, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh resulting in difficulty for commuters in the morning and noon hours," stated Skymet, a private weather forecasting agency.

Dense to very dense fog was observed at isolated places over Punjab and West Rajasthan and moderate fog at isolated places over Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi and West Uttar Pradesh in the morning hours. Visibility in Amritsar and Ganganagar was 50 metres in the morning while in Delhi's Palam it was 200 meters.

In Patiala, Ambala, Hissar, Bikaner, Bareilly and Delhi's Safdarjung the visibility was 500 metres each, the Indian Meteorological Department stated in its report.

In Haryana's Rohtak, at least eight people were killed and 10 others sustained injuries after several vehicles collided in the morning because of dense fog. Expressing grief over the incident, Haryana Minister OP Dhankar said, "Compensation of Rs. 2 lakhs will be given to the kin of the deceased, Rs. 1 lakh to those severely injured. And Rs 50,000 to those with minor injuries."

The weather conditions in the majority of the Northern states will remain similar for the next couple of days. The mercury is likely to dip during nights as the air mass is flowing in the region, however, the sky will partly be sunny and cloudy with wind.

In Southern part of India, the trough of low is extending from Equatorial Ocean to South Interior Karnataka across Interior Tamil Nadu. Because of this, light to moderate rain showers is likely to engulf  Tamil Nadu, Kerala, South Interior Karnataka and Coastal Karnataka.

Looking at Central India, dry and cold air mass continues to hover over this region. The weather in Madhya Pradesh, Vidarbha and Chhattisgarh will be dry with breezy cold winds.