Cold northwesterly winds bring temp down in Delhi

Icy winds from the hills brought the mercury in the national capital down on Wednesday, the weather department said.

The city recorded a minimum of 7.1 degrees Celsius, two notches less than that recorded on Tuesday and a notch below normal for this time of the year, the India Meteorological Department said.

The maximum temperature dropped to 17.9 degrees Celsius, from 20.2 degrees Celsius recorded on Tuesday. It was three notches less than normal.

The weather station at Mungeshpur recorded a maximum of 14.3 degrees Celsius.

In the morning, a dense layer of fog engulfed Delhi and surrounding areas, disrupting train and flight operations.

Five flights were diverted and 22 trains delayed by up to eight hours, officials said.

A fresh western disturbance January 28 onwards is expected to trigger "fairly widespread" rainfall in the entire northwest India and "good" snowfall in the hills, the weatherman said.

Strong surface winds are expected on Thursday which will help improve air quality. On Wednesday, the overall air quality stood at 370 at 4 pm.