Cold wave, dense fog to abate from Jan 10: IMD

New Delhi: Delhiites will get a respite from the icy grip of winter as dense fog and cold wave, holding sway on Delhi-NCR and parts of north India, will abate from upcoming Tuesday, January 10, IMD said on Sunday.

“Tonight there will be a cold to severe cold wave over Delhi and the temperature will be around 3-4 degrees, some stations may record it as 2 degrees but from January 10 there will be no dense fog, no cold wave, maybe isolated fog will prevail but the cold wave will go,” India Meteorological Department senior scientist RK Jenamani told ANI.

We have issued a Red warning for Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi and UP and Orange alert for Rajasthan & Bihar. There will be very dense fog to dense fog. 10th January onward there will be no coldwave: IMD Scientist Dr RK Jenamani pic.twitter.com/pGq8wFXmNr

— ANI (@ANI) January 8, 2023

Talking of the record-breaking biting cold, prevailing in Delhi-NCR, the Met scientist said, “Safdarjung temperature recorded the lowest temperature at 1.9 degrees Celcius, which is the lowest of the season. A severe cold wave is still prevailing in most places of Delhi, and it is recording very low temperatures for the last four days in the area.”

RK Jenamani said that the day temperature is also very low which is around 15-17 degrees Celsius in the national capital. “Yesterday night, the dense fog also intensified in Delhi. At IGI airport severe fog remained from 2:30 am to 11:30 am, making it the longest fog of the season,” he said. Taking note of other parts of India, Jenamani said, “the temperature marginally improved in Rajasthan, Punjab by 1-2 degrees Celsius but cold wave still remains.”

However, the IMD scientist underlined that Rajasthan’s Churu reached sub-zero temperature and settled at minus 0.5 degrees Celsius. “North Madhya Pradesh’s Nowgong recorded 1 degree Celsius and is under the grip of severe cold wave. Uttar Pradesh witnessed severe cold wave but only in isolated places,” Jenamani said.

Notably, as per the forecast all the cold conditions prevailing will abate from January 10 night. “The new Western Disturbances (WD), will be coming from January 10 night. All these conditions, dense fog, cold wave, and cold days, will abate from January 10 night,” the forecast expert said, adding that in response to the prevailing conditions the Met Office has issued red and orange alerts for the next 48 hours in several parts of the country.

“We have issued a red alert in Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and an Orange alert in Rajasthan, Bihar as these areas will be witnessing dense to very dense fog. He adds that people driving cars, should follow the speed limit and all the safety conditions should be followed,” he said.