Bhogi smog shrouds many parts of Chennai; airport visibility drops to 300 metres

Several parts of Chennai were shrouded in dense smog on the morning of Bhogi on Wednesday (January 14, 2026). The Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC) said at around 7 a.m., visibility dropped to 300 metres around the Chennai airport for about an hour.

This year, visibility was poor in comparison to the 400 metres witnessed on Bhogi day last year. Officials of the Aerodrome Meteorological Office, Meenambakkam, said visibility dropped steadily from 4.30 a.m. and was as low as 300 metres between 7 a.m. and 8 a.m. It improved to 800 metres from 9 a.m.

Flight cancellations were kept to a minimum at the Chennai airport on Wednesday morning, as some airlines had already rescheduled their flights in advance, expecting poor visibility due to Bhogi.

V.R. Durai, director in-charge, Aerodrome Meteorological Office, said the locality experienced a prolonged spell of poor visibility from 4.30 a.m. to 8.30 a.m. due to the smog, under calm atmospheric conditions. Visibility below 800 metres would affect flight operations, he said.

Light and variable winds, high humidity level above 90%, and nearly steady surface pressure favoured the persistence of fog and Bhogi smoke suspension in the air.

During winter months, low solar insolation led to a very shallow mixing layer over Chennai. On Wednesday, the presence of high moisture content, along with accumulated smoke from Bhogi-related burning, significantly reduced visibility over the Chennai airport, Mr. Durai further said. The lack of sufficient vertical mixing prevented dispersion of moisture and pollutants, allowing fog and smoke to persist for a longer duration.

“We expect fog conditions to continue till Saturday (January 17) in Chennai due to northerly cold wind advection from central India,” he added.

Officials of Airports Authority of India (AAI) said, a total of six departure and arrival flights were delayed at the city airport. Flights to and from Bengaluru, Kochi, and Mumbai were cancelled. The visibility gradually began dipping from 4 a.m. onwards. At 5.30 a.m., at the 07 end of the main runway (the Pallavaram-end), the visibility dropped to 1,000 metres and it lowered steeply to 300 metres at 8 a.m., officials said.

“We had an operational meeting with the airlines to mitigate the impact of flight operations due to Bhogi. Subsequently, to avoid inconvenience to passengers, some of the airlines decided to reschedule the flights in advance and we communicated the same via social media,” an official said.

Flights to and from New Delhi, Coimbatore, Pune, Mumbai, Abu Dhabhi, Bahrain, and Kuala Lumpur and departures to Thoothukudi and Vijayawada on Wednesday were rescheduled early on Tuesday (January 13), officials said.

Meanwhile, the RMC has noted that conditions are becoming favourable for the withdrawal of Northeast monsoon over Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, and Karaikal in two days. Dry weather is set to return over the State from Thursday (January 15).

During the past 24 hours ending 8.30 a.m. on Wednesday, Oothu in Tirunelveli recorded the heaviest rainfall of 9 cm for the day. Other places like Sivagangai, Nagapattinam, and Pudukottai too received moderate rainfall.