Chill persists in Delhi, mercury down to 5.5 degree C

New Delhi, Feb 10 (UNI) The cold wave prevailing in Delhi persisted today with cold Northwesterly winds plummeting mercury to 5.5 degrees Celsius, 3 degrees below the normal.

The icy cold Northwesterlies led to a sharp drop in minimum temperature from 9.4 degrees on Friday to 5.5 degrees today.

The maximum temperature rose to 19.8 as against 18 degrees yesterday, still five degrees below normal.

A shallow fog was witnessed in the morning, leading to a slight drop in visibility levels to around 500 m, which improved soon to above 1000 m.

Airport sources said flight schedules remained unaffected as one of the two runways at the airport remained fully operational.

The second runway also became operational with improvement in the visibility levels.

The chilly conditions in the national capital are likely to persist for another few days with the weathermen forecasting cold winds during the day in Delhi during the next 24 hours.

There is also likeliness of a drop in minimum temperature to 5 degrees tomorrow.

The Met office has forecaste a mainly clear sky in Delhi during the next 24 hours.

The Weathermen say the cold winds in Delhi are due to the Eastwards movement of a Western disturbance.

UNI.SNG AKJ RN1751