By IANS
New Delhi : The capital experienced its coldest morning this season Sunday with the mercury dipping to 6.8 degrees Celsius, more than two degrees lower than this day last year.
The minimum temperature dropped by 0.5 degree Celsius at 5 a.m. from Saturday’s 7.3 degrees, an India Metrological Department (IMD) official said.
Last year’s temperature on this day was 9 degrees Celsius, the met department said.
“The runway visibility was very decent today and flights took off as per schedule at the airport,” said Arun Arora, spokesperson of the Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL).
On Saturday, there was panic at the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGI) following an Air Traffic Control (ATC) radar failure. About 40 flights were delayed, creating a backlog that led to acute congestion in the air and serious safety concerns.
The problem started when one of the three radars of the ATC started malfunctioning. It took 45 minutes to fix it, but that was enough to throw the entire air traffic to and from IGI airport off gear. Two international flights were also delayed for four hours.
Weathermen have forecast that the minimum temperature will hover around seven degrees Celsius in the next two days.
The capital could experience mainly dry weather with clear sky and a drop of around two-three degrees Celsius in night temperatures in the next two days, met officials said.
Due to moisture in the air caused by snowfall in Jammu and Kashmir, the mornings will be wrapped in fog, the met added.