Cold, dense fog to persist across north India, says IMD | Today News

The weather department on Thursday warned of colder and foggier days ahead in large parts of North India as winter conditions intensify, further impacting railway and flight operations.

"The monthly minimum temperatures in January 2026 are likely to be below normal over most regions of the country; however, some parts of northwest and Northeastern India, as well as southern Peninsular India, are expected to experience above-normal temperatures," said Mrutyunjay Mohapatra, director general of meteorology, India Meteorological Department (IMD).

Minimum temperatures are likely to be 2-4°C below normal over most of the country except some parts of the western Himalayan region, where they are expected to be 1-3°C above normal during the next two weeks. Cold wave conditions are likely in parts of Punjab, Haryana, North Rajasthan, North Madhya Pradesh, interior Odisha, adjoining parts of west Jharkhand, north Chhattisgarh, and south Uttar Pradesh.

Dense to very dense fog is “very likely” during night and morning hours in Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh and Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Odisha during the next 5-7 days, and at isolated pockets over Jammu, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Rajasthan during the next 3-4 days.

In the past few weeks, multiple trains and flights have been cancelled due to fog.

Normal rainfall (82–118% of the long-period average or LPA) is expected over the country as a whole during January. Based on data from 1971 to 2020, the LPA for January is about 49.0 mm. However, below-normal rains are likely in parts of northwest, east, and northeast India, as well as in a few localized areas of the peninsular and central Indian regions.

However, below-normal rains are expected across most parts of Northwest, Northeast, and Peninsular India in the January-March 2026 winter season at less than 88% of the LPA of about 69.7mm.

Some regions of Central India and Uttar Pradesh are likely to experience above-normal precipitation during this period.

Northwest India, including Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Ladakh, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, is a major wheat-producing area.

"The deficient rainfall, especially in the northwestern region, would not have much impact on wheat crop as they are well irrigated, except Himachal Pradesh," said Ratan Tiwari, director, ICAR-Indian Institute of Wheat and Barley Research (IIWBR), Karnal.

India’s rabi or winter crop sowing in 2025-26 has increased by more than 687,000 hectares to 61.43 million hectares as on 26 December, according to data released by the ministry of agriculture & farmers’ welfare on 29 December. The sown area is 1.13% higher than a year earlier.

The season’s average coverage is 63.78 million hectares.

The increase in sown area was driven in part by a rise in wheat, rice, pulses and oilseeds acreage. Wheat coverage was higher by 19,000 hectares, and rice area saw an increase of 189,000 hectares over a year earlier. Coverage under pulses increased by 365,000 hectares, with gram recording a significant rise of 466,000 hectares. Oil seeds area, led by rapeseed and mustard, also expanded, reaching 9.42 million hectares, an increase of 104,000 hectares over last year.

The data also shows a mixed picture for other crops. Some pulses, such as field peas, recorded a small decline, and certain cereals saw variation in coverage, indicating region-specific sowing trends.