Chill persists in Delhi, fog delays flights

New Delhi, Dec 14 (UNI) There was no respite today from the chill sweeping Delhi for the last couple of days even as thick fog in the morning plummeted visibility levels, disrupting air and rail traffic besides causing traffic jams in several places.

Dense fog in the morning led to a sharp fall in visibility levels in the city, leading to diversion of several international flights and delay of over 25 flights, airport sources said.

Foggy conditions plummeted visibility at the airport to 125 Runway Visual Range (RVR) units at 0410 hrs, forcing airport authorities to put into operation Low Visibility Procedures to enable landing of flights in low visibility conditions.

The LVP was put into force at 0240 hrs when the RVR was 1100 m.

Seven international flights were diverted to other destinations, five of them to Mumbai and one each to Lucknow and Jaipur.

Twenty-five flights were also delayed.

However, visibility levels improved to 1300 m RVR at 1105 hrs leading to the termination of the LVP.

Meanwhile, the chill in the air persisted with the minimum falling to 9 Degrees Celsius. The chilly conditions were intensified by the cold Northwesterly winds bllowing through the air.

The chilly conditions are likely to intensify in the coming days with weathermen forecasting a drop in minimum temperature tomorrow to 7 Degrees.

They have also forecast foggy conditions in the morning.

UNI