By IANS,
New Delhi: Heavy fog again engulfed the national capital late Friday and continued till the early hours of Saturday, disrupting flight and train schedules. The conditions are likely to continue till January-end, weather officials said.
“The general visibility was zero for many hours early in the morning. It eased by 9 a.m. and was recorded at a little less than 100 metres,” an India Meteorological Department (IMD) official told IANS.
The fog triggered chaos at the airport as well as at the major railway stations. Commuters were left stranded at airport lounges and railway platforms.
“The runway visibility was very poor in the early hours Saturday so no flight could take off or land till around 8 a.m. The visibility then improved and low visibility procedures requiring 150 metres visibility could be enforced,” an Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) official said.
“The dense fog badly affected air traffic last night and till early morning. Now some flights are taking off as fog has cleared a bit,” the official added.
Nine domestic arrivals and 22 domestic departures were delayed and one flight was cancelled, the IGIA website said. Eight international departures and 16 arrivals were running late, some delayed by over eight hours.
The fog took a toll on railway services as well.
“The fog since last night all around Delhi has badly affected trains. Around 41 trains have been rescheduled, 100 trains are running late by three hours or more. Some were delayed by over 24 hours. 50 trains were cancelled or partially cancelled due to weather conditions,” a Northern Railways official told IANS.
“Partially cancelled means that the services on a part of the route were cancelled,” he added.
Similar disruptions in air and rail services are likely to continue as the met department predicted that dense fog would continue till January end.
“Respite from fog in unlikely at least for another week. These weather conditions will remain at least till January-end,” the IMD official added.
“On Sunday, there will be fog in the morning. The minimum temperature will hover around nine degrees Celsius while maximum temperature is expected to touch 23 degrees Celsius,” he said.
The minimum temperature Saturday was 7.7 degrees Celsius and maximum was recorded at 22.3 degrees Celsius, one degree above the average.