Delhiites woke up to another freezing day on Monday as icy winds swept the Capital at regular intervals bringing the minimum temperature down to 2.4 degrees Celsius, five degrees below normal and barely a few notches above Sunday’s 1.9, the season’s lowest so far.
“It is so cold at night and early morning these days that it is a task to go outdoors before 11 a.m. and report for work,” said a beautician in Connaught Place.
The maximum temperature was 13.4 degrees Celsius, a crawl above Sunday’s 11.8 degrees Celsius, but still seven degrees below normal.
However, the heavy shroud of grey in the early morning soon lifted and by mid-morning, the sun came out and citizens went about their work and leisure with ease.
“I took a walk around some of the open markets in Central Delhi and did a lot of shopping,” said a middle-aged shopper at Janpath.
Humidity levels also fell from a high of 100 per cent to a low of 55 per cent.
The weatherman has forecast a mainly clear sky with fog expected only in the morning and the temperature oscillating between a maximum of 13 degrees and a minimum of three degrees.
Over 50 flights affected
PTI adds:
After remaining normal for two days, operations at Indira Gandhi International Airport here were hit due to dense fog. The schedules of over 50 flights were affected.
Arrival or departure of around 20 flights was cancelled either due to operational reasons or due to bad weather conditions, airport officials said. Among the flights arriving here which were cancelled were from Bagdogra, Pune, Lucknow, Mumbai, Patna and Chandigarh.
Air India flight AI 996 from Dubai was diverted to Mumbai at 4.50 a.m. when visibility dropped below 50 metre as the aircraft was not CAT-IIIB certified for instrument landing.
