New Delhi: Foggy conditions, chill persist

New Delhi, Dec 22: Fog continued to envelop the national capital for the third consecutive day today, leading to a drop in visibility levels in the morning even as the mercury rose to 9.1 degree Celsius.

Fog reduced visibility levels to 400m at 0730 hours, the weatherman said. The low visibility led to a slight delay in flights at the international airport.

''About five to seven flights were delayed by ten to 15 minutes at around 0800 Hours when the visibility levels came down. The low visibility procedures were employed. However, the visibility levels have improved now and normal flight operations resumed with the Runway Visibility range being more than 800 m now,'' a spokesperson of the Airports Authority of India said.

The fog also led to traffic jams in many areas. The minimum temperature rose to 9.1 degree, from 8.3 degree yesterday.

And, even though the minimum was one degree above normal, the South Easterly winds maintained the chill in the atmosphere.

However, even though the minimum temperature has show a rising trend over the past two days, the weatherman has forecast a drop in mercury in the next few days due to snowfall in Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal and Uttaranchal and rain in Punjab and Haryana under the influence of a fresh western disturbance.

Infact, the weatherman have forecast a drop in minimum temperature tomorrow to 8 degree.

The foggy conditions are also likely to remain for a day or two with the weatherman forecasting fog in the morning in the next 24 hours.

UNI