Cold wave grips Bihar, affects flights, train movements

Cold wave accompanied by dense fog gripped Bihar today disrupting normal life with maximum and minimum temperatures falling several degrees below normal.
Met office sources said, Patna registered a minimum temperature of 6.5 degrees Celsius while the maximum hovered around 17 degrees Celsius.
Such dense was the fog blanket in the state capital in the morning that it reduced visibility to 50 metres, though later in the day it cleared up to go above 1,000 metres.
Met sources said Gaya with 4.2 degrees C recorded the lowest minimum temperature in the state, five degrees below the normal temperature for this time of the year.

The Cold wave, having gripped large stretches of the state, is expected to continue for the next few days.
"It could turn into very severe cold wave if the temperatures plummet six degrees below the normal," Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) director at Patna R K Giri told PTI.

Giri said the Patna airport had to reschedule its flights over fog advisory from the IMD as visibility was too low in the morning to allow operations of flights.
Patna airport Director-in-charge T K Dutta said, "Three to four flights got delayed in the morning due to dense fog, but operations resumed around noon as the visibility cleared."

Normally flights can land only if visibility is at least 1,200 metres, if the facility of Instrument Landing System is not available at the airport. The Patna airport is among those in the country, which still do not have this facility that can help aircraft land in fog and rain.
Fog also disrupted railway traffic with almost all long distance trains including several Rajdhani Expresses running several hours behind the schedule. Departure of a number of trains at Patna Junction too got delayed by three to six hours.
"Fog is hampering the normal functioning of railways. Many trains are running late by several hours, which is causing much inconvenience," East Central Railway (ECR) Chief Public Relations Officer (CPRO) Arvind Kumar Rajak said.

Railway officials said train drivers have been instructed not to speed above 65 kilometres per hour on the foggy winter days and depend on their anticipation.