Mercury continue to rise in Capital, fog delays flights

New Delhi, Jan 7 (UNI) On the incline since Friday, the mercury in the national capital city today further rose to 7.8 degrees Celsius even as fog in the morning plummeted visibility levels, disrupting flight schedules and leading to delay of over 30 flights.

Clouds hovering over the skyline led to a further rise in the minimum temperature in Delhi to 7.8 degrees from 7.4 degrees yesterday. The maximum also shot up to 26.8 degrees, from 23.4 degrees yesterday, considerably taking the edge off the cold wave sweeping the city since the past week.

However, fog this morning plummeted visibility levels to 200 m at 1000 hours, delaying more than 30 incoming and outbound flights at the international and domestic airports here.

A Delhi International Airport (P) Limited spokesperson said the Low Visibility Procedures (LVP) were enforced at the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGAI) due to fog. The LVP was implemented at 0615 hrs when the RVR dipped to 650 m and later terminated at 1130 hrs when the RVR rose to 1400 m after a duration of five hours and 15 minutes.

However, the spokesperson said no flights were either rescheduled or cancelled.

The cold wave over the city is likely to abate further tomorrow with the Met office forecasting a rise in minimum temperature to 10 degrees tomorrow.

''The current meteorological analysis suggest further rise in night temperatures over Delhi and other parts of Northwest India by two to three degrees in the next two to three days,'' the weather office said.

It also predicted fog conditions during the next one to two days.

The Met office has predicted a partly cloudy sky during the next 24 hours with a possibility of fog in the morning hours tomorrow.

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