Dense fog cover parts of North India; affects visibility

New Delhi, Feb 17: People in parts of Haryana, Punjab, Delhi and Rajasthan woke up to dense fog on Wednesday morning, with a slight chill in the air. Several people in Batala, Punjab lit fire to keep themselves warm from the early morning chills. According to India Meteorological Department (IMD), a very dense fog was reported over Punjab and in isolated pockets over West Rajasthan and Odisha.

In a report, the IMD said, "Dense fog in isolated pockets over Haryana and shallow fog in isolated pockets over Delhi and Gangetic West Bengal."

Due to fog, the visibility was reported 500 metre or less of many parts in northern India. "Visibility was 25 meters each in Amritsar, Patiala, Ganganagar and Chandbali, 50 meter in Hissar, and 500 meters in Delhi (Safdarjung, Palam)," said IMD.

The IMD said the temperature in most northern states like West Rajasthan and Uttarakhand, at many places over Himachal Pradesh and at isolated places over Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, and Uttar Pradesh remained between 3.1 degree Celsius and 5.0 degree Celsius on Wednesday morning.

"Under the influence of wind discontinuity over north Peninsular India, Current Nagpur Radar Animation (upto 7:30 am) suggests that Occurrence of Thunderstorm/lightning/hail and light to moderate rain in Chhindwara, Seoni, Betul, Balaghat districts of East Madhya Pradesh," IMD added.