Cold wave in Delhi intensifies with early morning rain; intense chill likely to persist next week

Visuals from Mayur Vihar, Delhi show layer of smog engulfing the area. (Source: Screengrab/PTI)

Parts of Delhi woke up to light rainfall on Friday morning, adding to the winter chill across the national capital. Foggy and intense cold conditions with a layer of smog engulfed the city.

The temperature stood at 5 degrees Celsius with 100 per cent humidity, according to the Early Warning System for Delhi. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has put Delhi under a “yellow alert” owing to colder conditions than normal.

On Thursday, the capital city recorded a temperature of 5.8 degrees Celsius. Dense to very dense conditions were recorded in Delhi and neighboring areas of Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Punjab.

The chill in Delhi is likely to persist and may even worsen over the next few days as the cold wave in North India intensifies. The IMD’s forecast for Delhi says the temperature is likely to hover around 5 degrees till at least Monday, January 12. The maximum temperature is also likely to go down to 15 degrees Celsius.

Air quality in Delhi continued to remain under “very poor” category with an AQI of 321.

According to IMD, there has been a fall in minimum temperature by 2-3 degree Celsius and rise in maximum temperatures by 1-2 degree Celsius during the past 24 hours over Delhi. The maximum and minimum temperatures over Delhi were around 14 degree Celsius to 17 degree Celcisus and 5 degree Celsius to 6 degree Celsius, respectively.

The minimum temperatures are below normal (-1.6 to -3.0 degree Celsius) at isolated places and normal (-1.5 to 1.5 degree Celsius) over remaining places of Delhi. The maximum temperatures were appreciably below normal (-3.1 or -5.0) at a few places, below normal (-1.6 to -3.0 degree Celsius) at isolated places and normal (-1.5 to 1.5 degree Celsius) over remaining places of Delhi.

The air quality is likely to be in the poor category till at least January 11.